Thursday, May 29, 2008

April 29, 2008

The following images were taken without notes, so I don't recall the sky conditions, or exposure times, though I believe these images all comprise stacks of more then 80, 15-second sub-exposures.

M88

One of the brightest spiral galaxies in Virgo, it was discovered in 1781 by Messier, who described it as a “nebula without stars.” M88 is one of my favorite targets, though I don't image it nearly enough.  The galaxy stands out very prominently in even one second preview images, and fine details of its spiral structure can be discerned even in only 15-second exposures.

M88 is thought to have a linear diameter of about 130,000 light years and lies about 60 million light years away.



M63

You can never get enough of the Sunflower.

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