Messier/Mechain 106 [Robotic, NM]

Also known as NGC 4258, this barred spiral galaxy in Canes Venetici was actually discovered by Messier's assistant, Pierre Mechain and only added to the "Messier List" in 1947.

 

The galaxy's central supermassive black hole is associated with powerful jets of material ejected by intense magnetic fields associated with the spinning black hole - this in turn excites hydrogen gas which is flung out in two arms curving away from the central black hole. These arms glow and emit in a number of wavelengths including hydrogen alpha (red/pink) at 656.4nm.

 

I have just about caught one of the "anomalous arms" as a faint pink curved line at about 8 o'clock on the bright galactic core.

 

To the right of M106 is the irregular peculiar galaxy NGC 4248.

 

Taken remotely in Mayhill, New Mexico with iTelescope T21.

 

17 x 600s luminosity subs

10 x 600s R,G and B subs.

5 x 600s Hydrogen alpha subs

 

In this image, "red" was a blend of 40% hydrogen alpha filtered stacked image and 60% red stacked image. I used the PI linear fit tool to match brightness of the 2 integrated images before combining with Pixel Math.

 

Image field of view: 26.9 x 24.5 arcminutes

Image centred on: RA: 12h 18m 39.4s, Dec: +47 deg 20m 18s

Image scale: 0.96 arcsec/pixel.

 

 

 

Done