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There are few galaxies in the constellation of Cancer that excite the astrophotographer, and this one is probably the best. While best known for the Beehive cluster M44, the constellation also contains some rewarding galaxies for photography. This slightly inclined spiral is 13.3 magnitude and extremely faint. However, the outer arms and the 14.7 magnitude companion galaxy which it is interacting with above makes for an M51 type scenario. Both are small, only a few arcminutes in size for the entire group.

Instrument:  12.5" f/5 Home made Newtonian
Platform:  Astrophysics 1200 QMD
CCD Camera:  SBIG ST8i NABG with Enhanced Cooling
Guider: SBIG ST4
Exposure:  LRGB = 60:20:20:40 (RGB Binned 2x2)
RGB Combine Ratio:  1: .8: 1.2
Filters:  RGB Tricolor
Location:  Payson, Arizona
Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing FWHM = 5.0 arcsec (Maxim DL - 10min subframe), Transparency 6/10
Outside Temperature:  15 C
CCD Temperature:  -20 C
Processing Tools:  Maxim DL, RG Sigma, Photoshop, AIP4WIN, PW Pro, RW Debloomer.

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