This bright inclined spiral rides high in the spring skies, and is significantly larger than my 15 minute CCD field. Rated at 9.1 magnitude, and 19 arcminutes in length, it is one of brightest spiral type Sb galaxies in the sky. The Wray Atlas comments on the green region just to the right of the core at the base of the arms and before the HII regions. This area is a metal poor mix of the nuclear population and the blue knots. Classed as a remnant spiral feature, or "fossil" spiral arm. The dust features near the core have a delicate brownish tint and show much structural detail.

Instrument:  12.5" f/5 Home made Newtonian
Platform:  Astrophysics 1200 QMD
CCD Camera:  SBIG ST7E w/Enhanced Cooling
Exposure:  LRGB = 60:20:20:36 (RGB Binned 2x2)
Filters:  RGB Tricolor
Location:  Payson, Arizona
Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing FMHW = 2.3 arcsec, Transparency 8/10
Outside Temperature:  10 C
CCD Temperature:  -235 C
Processing:  Maxim DL, Photoshop, AIP4WIN, PW Pro.