NGC 4565 - The Needle Galaxy

An iconic edge on spiral galaxy at approx. 12 megaparsecs distance. Marked by a very prominent dust band stretching right across its diameter as well as bright blue stellar regions at the two end tips.

 

 

Equipment-

900/120mm f/7.5 Starwatcher Equinox EDrefractor.

Starwatcher x 0.85FR with 2 inch IDAS LPS D1 filter

ZWO ASI2600MC; 22 x 6 minute subs + (132 minute total integration).

NEQ6 Pro Mount with Rowan modified belt drives. Plate solving GOTO.

Laptop with SharpCap 4.0 for focusing and acquisition.

 

Calibration-

30 dark frames

75 flat frames (Electroluminescent panel @ 1 second, Gain 0)

 

QHY Polemaster alignment -

Error measured by PHD2= 1.2 arc minute.

RA drift +1.43 arcsec/min

Dec drift -0.31 arcsec/min

 

Guiding-

PHD2 guiding with ZWO ASI290mm/Altair lightwave 209/50mm secondary scope. Alternate subs dithered.

RA RMS error 0.70 arcsec, peak error -2.65 arcsec

Dec RMS error 0.53 arcsec, peak error -4.13 arcsec

 

Astrometry-

Center (RA, hms): 12 36 08.136

Center (Dec, dms): +25 55 58.99

Field of view: 49 58.4 x 30 53.5

Pixel scale: 0.97 arcsec/pixel

 

Light Pollution-

SQM (L) at middle of session (2354hrs UT) 20.2 mag/arcsec2 .

Typical of outer suburbs - Bortle scale = 5/9 Yellow

 

Environmental-

Temp = 8.1c

Humidity = 99%

Dew point = 8.0c

Clear throughout .

 

Post processed in PixInsight 1.8.9

Done