M74

Click on image for larger version.

M74 is one of the dimmer galaxies in the Messier catalogue. The galaxy is estimated to be 35 million light years away and about the same size as our own galaxy (100,000 light years across). Many bright pink spots line the blue spiral arms. These pink regions are the stellar nurseries from which the bright blue stars in the spiral arms are born.

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 = 90 minutes binned 1x1
Red = 20 minutes binned 2x2
Green = 20 minutes binned 2x2
Blue = 20 minutes binned 2x2

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.

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

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Updated: 09/05/03