At a magnitude of 8.9, you might think this object an easy subject, however because it is of such low surface brightness, it dim ghost like image is a challenge to image satisfactorily. This galaxy is huge, spilling out over the edge of the field which is 10 arc minutes tall. The full extent is actually 22x12 arcmins. This object strangely enough is classed as an Sc spiral, but is not typical of the class. Of special interest in this object are the hordes of HII regions. These pink hydrogen clouds are in great abundance and well resolved because of the galaxies closeness to the Local Group.

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 = 2.5 arcsec, Transparency 8/10
Outside Temperature:  0 C
CCD Temperature:  -35 C
Processing:  Maxim DL, Photoshop, AIP4WIN, PW Pro.