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10.1'' reflector Mallincam DS432cTEC Live-stacked frames = 15-15-15-13 (58 total), Exposures = 10-15-20-25 sec, Gain = 12-11-10-9/250 The low surface brightness of this face-on spiral made it very difficult to locate, despite its size; had to increase gain quite a bit to find it against the background stars. Successive exposures though started to reveal the beautiful "grand design" structure of this galaxy. Distance is listed as approximately 32 million light years away. Apparent size of the galaxy in this view is about 6 minutes of arc. North at 12 o'clock, East at 9 o'clock |
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Enlarged from previous image Enlarged and brightened view of the galaxy itself to show the twists and knots in the spiral structure. North at 12 o'clock, East at 9 o'clock |