M99 Coma Pinwheel Galaxy
Also called the St. Catherine's Wheel Galaxy (named for the torture and execution device broken by Catherine of Alexandria on her path to sainthood), it's about 50 million light years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. Small and faint for a Messier object, it was among the last listed by Messier and collaborator Pierre Mechain. From Wikipedia I see that the spiral shape was not identified until Lord Rosse got a good look at it with his giant telescope some 65 years later. Here I've used a small telescope with a sensitive camera for my first "close up" of this glittery spiral.
Tech Stuff: Questar 3.5" mounted on RST-135E/ ZWO ASI 533Mono /8- 10 second unguided exposures L X 80min, R, G, B X 30 min each. Processed with PixInsight. From my Bortle 7 yard in Westchester County, NY, 10 miles north of NYC.
M99 Coma Pinwheel Galaxy
Also called the St. Catherine's Wheel Galaxy (named for the torture and execution device broken by Catherine of Alexandria on her path to sainthood), it's about 50 million light years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. Small and faint for a Messier object, it was among the last listed by Messier and collaborator Pierre Mechain. From Wikipedia I see that the spiral shape was not identified until Lord Rosse got a good look at it with his giant telescope some 65 years later. Here I've used a small telescope with a sensitive camera for my first "close up" of this glittery spiral.
Tech Stuff: Questar 3.5" mounted on RST-135E/ ZWO ASI 533Mono /8- 10 second unguided exposures L X 80min, R, G, B X 30 min each. Processed with PixInsight. From my Bortle 7 yard in Westchester County, NY, 10 miles north of NYC.