Field: 14' x 9'
      

One of the largest and brightest galaxies in the sky, this Local Group member blazes forth with hundreds of red emission nebulas, rich blue star clouds and associations, and a leaden yellow core region. The galaxy is much larger than my field here, it is some 65 mins x 35 mins in size, and with an integrated magnitude of 6.3, making it a naked eye object on any clear night. The brightest HII region, is to the upper right of the core, and is MAC 0134+3036. Where is the galaxies core? Dead center, just above the blue star association. The electric blue stars are blue supergiants defining the arms. The dark nebula have a distinctly brownish hue, betraying their dusty nature.

Processing: Calibration, DDP, RGB Combine, and Maximum Entropy Deconvolution - Maxim DL. LRGB combine, final adjustments - Photoshop 6. Registration - Picture Window Pro.

Instrument:  12.5" f/5 Home made Newtonian
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 8/10, Transparency 8/10
Outside Temperature:  21 C
CCD Temperature:  -20 C