Casitas de Gila, Gila, New Mexico, September 29 – October 2, 2024
It was not galaxy season, but NGC 253 was positioned to image. While low in the sky, I decided to photograph it as the second target of three over several nights. Hydrogen-alpha filter data were collected to show the extensive star forming regions. Since the 4” refractor has a wide field of view, I generated drizzled masters within the WBPP script in PixInsight so that the galaxy could be cropped.
The Sculptor Galaxy, also known as the Silver Coin Galaxy, Silver Dollar Galaxy, NGC 253, and Caldwell 65, is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor. The Sculptor Galaxy is a starburst galaxy, which means that it is currently undergoing a period of intense star formation. Observations suggest that a gas-rich dwarf galaxy collided with it 200 million years ago, disturbing its disk and starting the present starburst. The galaxy was discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1783 during one of her systematic comet searches. About 50 years later, John Herschel observed it using his 18-inch metallic mirror reflector at the Cape of Good Hope. This bright galaxy is about 24 million light years away and is about 120,500 light-years in diameter. (Wikipedia)
Mark Wetzel
Imaging details:
Stellarvue SVX102T refractor with 0.74x focal reducer (FL = 528mm, f/5.2)
ZWO large off-axis guider with a ZWO ASI 174MM mini guide camera
Losmandy G11 mount with Gemini 2
ZWO ASI 2600MM Pro cooled monochrome camera (-10C)
Chroma 36mm Hydrogen-alpha, Luminance, Red, Green, and Blue filters
Equatorial camera rotation: 90 degrees
Software: Sequence Generator Pro, ASTAP plate solving, PHD2 guiding,
Losmandy Gemini ASCOM mount control and web client interface,
SharpCap Pro for polar alignment with the Polemaster camera,
PixInsight 1.8.9, Photoshop 2024
Hydrogen-alpha 10 min x 12 subframes (120 min), Gain 100, Offset 64, 1x1 binning
Lum 2 min x 140 subframes (280 min), Gain 100, Offset 64, 1x1 binning
Red 2 min x 35 subframes (70 min), Gain 100, Offset 64, 1x1 binning
Green 2 min x 32 subframes (64 min), Gain 100, Offset 64, 1x1 binning
Blue 2 min x 32 subframes (64 min), Gain 100, Offset 64, 1x1 binning
Total Integration Time: 8.3 hrs.
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