M109

Click on image for larger version.

M109 is a very dim barred spiral galaxy. Both the central nucleus and outer arms are fairly smooth- devoid of hotspots of star formation. It is estimated that this galaxy is 50 million light years away from us. This image does well to show some detail in the bluer arms with a more yellow interior. To do this galaxy justice longer exposures will be necessary. Other barred spirals in the Messier catalogue include M91, M95 and M58.

Equipment

20in RC Optical Systems telescope Operating at f/8.4
Paramount ME Robotic Telescope Mount
SBIG ST10XME CCD camera with color filter wheel

L R G B color production was used to create this image.

Luminance = 30 minutes + data below binned 1x1
 Red = 40 minutes binned 1x1
 Green = 90 minutes binned 1x1
 Blue = 50 minutes binned 1x1
  • Filter wheel got stuck in GREEN position instead of CLEAR. Took 90 minutes of GREEN before determining it was not the unfiltered image. Based on the amount of time left- decided to take as much hi-resolution data as possible and co-add everything.
  • One iteration of L-R deconvolution (sharpening) algorithm using CCDsharp was applied to the luminance image.

  • Digital Development (DDP) via Maxim/DL was also used in order to display the the very dim and very bright details of the image simultaneously.

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    Minimum credit line: Dale Swanson/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

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    Updated: 3/15/2005