Spring is here: Galaxies and Clusters

Springtime is galaxy time! After a frustrating friday night with incorrect mount setup, iAstroHub not working properly, which resulted in badly focussed and guided images, saturday evening proved much more successful:

Leo Triplet, M65, M65 and NGC3628, 25x120s, Astro-Physics 127mm f/8, Nikon D750, BackyardNikon, PHD2, Regim, Photoshop, Lightroom

The Leo triplet is a trio of galaxies which are physically near each other, a faint tidal tail can be seen to the upper left of M66, the lower right galaxy.

The distance to this galaxy group is about 35 million lightyears.

M13, Globular Cluster in Hercules, also visible: NGC6207 and IC4617, 6x120s, Astro-Physics 127mm f/8, Nikon D750, BackyardNikon, PHD2, Regim, Photoshop, Lightroom

M13 is located at a distance of about 22.200 lightyears in the direction of the constellation Hercules, to the lower left the galaxy NGC6207 is visible, which is about 46 million lightyears away, IC 4617 can be seen as a faint smudge between M13 and NGC 6207 it is 10 times farther away at a distance of about 490 million lightyears.

 

M13, Globular Cluster in Hercules, also visible: NGC6207 and IC4617, 6x120s, Astro-Physics 127mm f/8, Nikon D750, BackyardNikon, PHD2, Regim, Photoshop, Lightroom

M53, Globular Cluster, 8x120s, Astro-Physics 127mm f/8, Nikon D750, BackyardNikon, PHD2, Regim, Photoshop, Lightroom

M53 is a globular cluster in Coma Berenices, it is about 58.000 lightyears distant.

M53, Globular Cluster, 8x120s, Astro-Physics 127mm f/8, Nikon D750, BackyardNikon, PHD2, Regim, Photoshop, Lightroom

M64, the black eyed galaxy, 17x120s, Astro-Physics 127mm f/8, Nikon D750, BackyardNikon, PHD2, Regim, Photoshop, Lightroom

Messier 64 is also known as the Black Eye galaxy. The name refers to the thick dust ring visible as a dark smudge near the center of the galaxy. It is about 17 million light years distant.

M64, the black eyed galaxy, 17x120s, Astro-Physics 127mm f/8, Nikon D750, BackyardNikon, PHD2, Regim, Photoshop, Lightroom

Here are some making-of images: