M63 "A Sunflower made up of 400 Billion Suns" (Steve Argereow)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: M 63 · NGC 5055 · Sunflower Galaxy

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M63 "A Sunflower made up of 400 Billion Suns"

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M63 "A Sunflower made up of 400 Billion Suns"

M63, also known as the Sunflower Galaxy, is a beautiful and spectacular spiral galaxy in the constellation of Canes Venatici. M63 and M51 are gravitationally bound and along with at least 6 other smaller galaxies they form the M51 Group of galaxies. It is 37 million light-years away. It has an actual diameter of 135,000 light-years. In the early 1800's, Lord Rosse identified spiral structure within the galaxy, making this one of the first galaxies in which such structure was confirmed. It was listed as one of 14 "spiral nebulae" discovered to 1850.

Information Credits: Home Free Star Charts

Telescope: Explorer Scientific 127mm CF APO Refractor f/7.5 (952mm Focal Length)
Explore Scientific X0.7 Reducer f/5.25 (667mm Focal Length)
Mount IOptron CEM40
Camera ZWOASI6200MC-Pro Temp -10C, Binning 1 x 1, Gain 100 Offset 50
ZWO EFW

73 X 300 Second Exposures W/Optolong L-Pro Filter
20 Dark Frames/30 Flats
Total Integration Time: 6 Hours 5 Minutes
Acquisition with SharpCap
Stacked with Astro Pixel Processor
Guiding PHD2
Processed with Astra Image
Photo taken from Seven Lakes, NC Bortle 4.5

Original
Final
C

C

Description: Reduced Noise in background

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Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	5779915
PixInsight job	C9EQXI7SRBXQCP6YLUECUPBMUJ3L7Q0V
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	13h15m39s.74
RA (top/left)	13h18m21s.87
RA (top/right)	13h18m34s.61
RA (bottom/right)	13h12m55s.28
RA (bottom/left)	13h12m47s.24

Dec (center)	+42°02′24″.6
Dec (top/left)	+41°34′33″.1
Dec (top/right)	+42°27′46″.6
Dec (bottom/right)	+42°30′01″.7
Dec (bottom/left)	+41°36′46″.3

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M63 "A Sunflower made up of 400 Billion Suns"

M63 "A Sunflower made up of 400 Billion Suns"

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M63 "A Sunflower made up of 400 Billion Suns"

M63 "A Sunflower made up of 400 Billion Suns"

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