View allAll Photos Tagged NGC5055
M63 / NGC 5055 /Sunflower Galaxy
Locations: Deep Sky West, Rowe, New Mexico, United States
ASTRO-PHYSICS
175 mm f/8 Starfire EDF (175EDF):
Integration: 15,5h
L: 19 x 900 sec
R: 13 x 900 sec
G: 11 x 900 sec
B: 15 x 900 sec
H: 2 x 1800 sec
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_63
PixInsight + LR (Silver Efex Pro 2)
Sunflower Galaxy
Locations: Deep Sky West, Rowe, New Mexico, United States
ASTRO-PHYSICS
175 mm f/8 Starfire EDF (175EDF):
Integration: 14,5h
L: 19 x 900 sec
R: 13 x 900 sec
G: 11 x 900 sec
B: 15 x 900 sec
This is an image of the Sunflower Galaxy in Canes Venatici.
Discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1779 it lies at approaching 30 million light-years from earth and is some 100,000 light-years across. It was catalogued by Charles Messier as M63. The galaxy is also catalogued NGC 5055.
The galaxy has been given its moniker because of its resemblance to the dense, seedy head and overlapping petals of a Sunflower!
M63 is what is known as a flocculent spiral galaxy. These galaxies are characterised by their patchy, feathery, flaky or lumpy disjointed arms giving a mottled appearance. The Sunflower has only 2 spiral arms but the flocculate appearance makes it hard to define them.
Surprisingly, flocculate galaxies actually make up 30% of spiral galaxies with only 10% being grand design spirals - the more common perception of what a galaxy should look like!
A prominent dust lane is visible in the galaxy at front left.
Imaged with a Skywatcher Esprit 120ED and a ZWO 2600MC camera.
A total of 7.0hr exposure over 3 nights April 2021, March 2022 and March 2024.
Calibrated with Temp. matched darks, Flats and Dark Flats.
Thanks for looking!
***Reprocessed Data From 2020***
As my last post I’ve decided to re-process old data with new software and techniques. While processing this time, I managed to bring out some Interstellar dust but have not included it because I felt it distracted from the image of the Galaxy and didn’t really add to the picture.
OBJECT DESCIPTION:-
M63, also known as NGC 5055 or the Sunflower Galaxy resides in the constellation Canes Venatici. The shape indicating a spiral form with no central bar and a loosely wound arms. From Earth Its has an apparent dimension of 12.6 x 7.2 arc sec and a visual mag of 9.3 and lies at distance of about 29 million LY.
EQUIPMENT:-
Telescope Meade 6000 115mm and AZ-EQ6 GT
ZWO ASI1600mm-Cool camera
Orion Mini Auto Guide
ZWO LRGB Filters
Chip Temp Cooled to -20 degC
IMAGING DETAILS:-
M63 Sunflower Galaxy(Canes Venatici)
Gain 139 (Unit Gain)
25 Red subs@180sec (1h 15min)
25Green subs@180sec (1h 15min)
25 Blue subs@180sec (1h 15min)
40 Lum subs@180sec (2h)
Total imaging Time 5 45min
Dithering
20 Darks
No Flats
PROCESSING/GUIDING SOFTWARE:-
APT
PHD2
DSS
GraXpert AI (3.1 Beta)
Siril
Affinity photo 2
I obtained completely new data for this object to see if I could improve on my previous image of M63. after wasting nearly 2 days working on this new data I realised that the results weren’t any better. I decided to run both the old and new data through the Deep Sky Stacker to compare and found that more than half the new RGB was inferior, I therefore decided to combine the best of the old and new data giving me 25 subs (not the 30 I wanted) of each channel, discarding over 45 of new RGB subs☹️. I also had to discard 20 of my new luminance subs, a reduction from 60 to 40.
I’m not sure if all the effort was worth it in the end as there is not much improvement on the core of the Galaxy but I have managed to squeeze out more of the fainter outer areas.
This hobby is becoming tough, I need to remember that its meant to be fun.
Object Description:-
M63, also known as NGC 5055 or the Sunflower Galaxy resides in the constellation Canes Venatici. The shape indicating a spiral form with no central bar and a loosely wound arms. From Earth Its has an apparent dimension of 12.6 x 7.2 arc sec and a visual mag of 9.3 and lies at distance of about 29 million LY.
EQUIPMENT:-
Telescope Meade 6000 115mm and AZ-EQ6 GT
ZWO ASI1600mm-Cool camera
Orion Mini Auto Guide
ZWO LRGB Filters
Chip Temp Cooled to -20 degC
IMAGING DETAILS:-
M63 Sunflower Galaxy(Canes Venatici)
Gain 139 (Unit Gain)
25 Red subs@180sec (1h 15min)
25Green subs@180sec (1h 15min)
25 Blue subs@180sec (1h 15min)
40 Lum subs@180sec (2h)
Total imaging Time 5 45min
Dithering
20 Darks
No Flats
PROCESSING/GUIDING SOFTWARE:-
APT "Astro Photograph Tools"
DSS
PS CS2
Nikon D750, Sky-Watcher Coma corrector (x0,90), Astronomik CLS filter, Sky-Watcher Skyliner 350P Flextube Synscan(355/1650). 20s exposures, total 1h 08min.
Here is a view of the Sunflower Galaxy, Messier 63 (M63, NGC 5055) found in the constellation Canes Venatici. It is a spiral galaxy surrounded by many short spiral arm segments. It is also a member of a group of galaxies referred to as the M51 Group. The Sunflower Galaxy lies roughly 37 million light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 9.3. This has been one of my favorite galaxies to image during galaxy season.
Distance to Earth: 27 million light years
Radius: 49,000 light years
Right ascension: 13h 15m 49.3s
Declination: +42°01’45”
Apparent Magnitude: 9.3
Apparent dimensions: 12′.6 x 7′.2
Stars: 400 billion
Common Name: Sunflower Galaxy
Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX-90 SCT Telescope, Antares Focal Reducer, ZWO ASI2600MC camera running at -10F, 81 x 60 second exposures, Celestron CGX-L pier mounted, ZWO EAF and ASIAir Pro, processed in PixInsight. Image Date: April 1, 2025. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).
M63 - The Sunflower Galaxy
Full size image here: bit.ly/2LuKPyg
I present to you Messier 63, also known as NGC 5055 or the Sunflower Galaxy. Or as I like to call it, Dusty McDustface, as this flocculent spiral galaxy is surrounded by a gigantic cloud of dust, making it difficult to observe and capture its intricate detail. This gassy, dusty cloud extends well beyond the edges of the galactic disc.
Perhaps I've been too hard on myself, but the efforts have paid off in droves. I've been trying to capture this galaxy for the last couple of weeks, but due to a combination of technical difficulties with my imaging rig or clouds rolling in at the most inopportune times, I've never managed to get long enough integration times nor very clear images of this galaxy. But over my last couple of outings, everything has been working out the weather has been cooperating. So I ditched my old photos and with my last 2 sessions I've finally managed to hit my target of 3+ hours of integration time by combining the data from my last 2 sessions to truly do justice to this fine jewel of the night sky.
Acquisition Data:
Sky-Watcher Quattro 250P @ f/4
Celestron CGX
ZWO ASI 1600MC-Pro
94 x 2 min exposures
Shot at the L&A County Dark Sky Viewing Area near Erinsville, Ontario.
M63 o NGC5055 , denominata La Galassia Girasole è una galassia a spirale visibile nella costellazione boreale dei Cani da Caccia; fu scoperta nel 1779 da Pierre Méchain, collega e amico del Messier e che collaborò alla stesura del celebre catalogo. Wikipedia. M63 fa parte di un noto gruppo di galassie e presenta deboli formazioni estese che potrebbero costituire i resti di galassie nane satelliti. M63 risplende in tutto lo spettro elettromagnetico e si ritiene che abbia avuto considerevoli episodi di attiva formazione stellare.
Distanza dalla Terra: 27.000.000 anni luce
Raggio: 49.000 anni luce
Età: 1,328 × 10^10 anni
Magnitudine: 9,3
Costellazione: Cani da Caccia
Stelle: 400 miliardi
Dimensione apparente: 7,2′–12,6′ RIprese Newton 20/800 coma corrector. Eq6-R pro Asi 533MC - guida 60/240 Asi 224 Mc Pose 51x120. Dark 29 Flat 39. SQM 20:43 Giardino di Casa 27 05 22 Mògoro Sardegna
Migliore risoluzione qui:
La galaxie spirale M 63 (NGC 5055) se trouve à 27 millions d’a.l. et appartient au groupe de galaxies M 51, nommé d’après son membre le plus brillant, la galaxie du Tourbillon, dans la constellation des Chiens de chasse. La disposition de ses bras spiraux sinueux rappelle le motif du centre d’un tournesol. Ceux-ci brillent grâce à la présence d’étoiles géantes bleues et blanches récemment formées (cf. site Hubble).
Pour situer l'astre dans la constellation des Chiens de chasse :
www.flickr.com/photos/7208148@N02/48686500312/in/datepost...
A bright spiral galaxy of the northern sky, Messier 63 is about 25 million light-years distant in the loyal constellation Canes Venatici. Also cataloged as NGC 5055, the majestic island universe is nearly 100,000 light-years across, about the size of our own Milky Way. Known by the popular moniker, The Sunflower Galaxy, M63 sports a bright yellowish core and sweeping blue spiral arms, streaked with cosmic dust lanes and dotted with pink star forming regions [source: NASA APOD]
Captured over two nights from Lake Sonoma, CA on April 16-17 2015
Exposures:
L: 16 x 1200s
R,G,B: 16 x 600s each
Total Exposure time: 13h20m
Main Camera: QSI 583 WSG
Guide Camera: SX Lodestar (on OAG)
Mount: Astro-Physics Mach 1
Scope: Celestron Edge HD 8" w/ 0.7X reducer (FL: 1480mm)
FL 1481.6 mm, 0.75"/Pixel
I managed to shoot a few targets last week and the Sunflower Galaxy M63 was among them. I still have yet to capture Luminance frames, so this is a RGB image only
Taken with an 11" Celestron EdgeHD with Hyperstar(F/2)
and a QHY23M cooled to -20C
R-15x2 minutes 4/11/15
G-15x2 minutes 4/11/15
B-15x2 minutes 4/10/15
M63, aka the Sunflower Galaxy is a 9.3 magnitude galaxy in the constellation of Canes Venatici, the hunting dogs. It is estimated to be anywhere from 37-43 million light-years away.
#M63 aka #NGC5055 #SunflowerGalaxy has approximately 400 billion stars.
40 lights 180 sec. Gain26
30 darks
30 bias
30 (dark) flats
#idaslpsd2 Filter
#qhy268c f4 #celestroncgxlmount #youresa
#astrophotography #universetoday #milkyway #astrophoto #astrography #nightsky #nightscaper #starphotography #starscape #natgeospace #starrynight #longexposure #astro_photography #deepsky #galaxy #neustadtanderweinstrasse #astromaniacmag #celestronrocks #astrobin #baaderplanetarium #jw #jwphotography
Aberkenfig, South Wales
Lat 51.542 N Long 3.593 W
Skywatcher 254mm Newtonian Reflector, Nikon D780 at prime focus with Skywatcher coma corrector. EQ6 Syntrek Mount.
Not the best outcome but an improvement compared to a previous attempt a few years ago using an Olympus E410.
Imaging session commenced 21:46 UT with the transparency of the sky just above average.
2 x 30s at ISO 3200
13 x 30s at ISO 2000
6 x 25s at ISO 2500
8 x 25s at ISO 2000
5 x 25s at ISO 1600
Also 18 dark frames & 18 flats.
Processed with Deep Sky Stacker and levels adjusted with Lightroom & G.I.M.P.
Final image cropped.
19-4-2021 Messier 63 or M63, also known as NGC 5055 or the seldom-used Sunflower Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy in the northern constellation of Canes Venatici with approximately 400 billion stars.
Distance to Earth: 27 million light years
Distance: 29.3 Mly (8.99 Mpc)
Apparent size (V): 12′.6 × 7′.2
Group or cluster: M51 Group
Redshift: 484 km/s
Constellation: Canes Venatici
39 light frames 32 dark frames 180sec's iso800.
Nikon D750-Nikon600mm Fl f4 prime & Nikon 2x teleconverter on SWNEQ6-R-Pro mount PHD2 guide- deepsky stacker - Photoshop, bortle 4.
M63 or NGC5055 is the Sunflower Galaxy, it is a spiral galaxy made up of approximately 400 billion stars, it has a radius of 130,000 light years and is 29.3 million light years from us. Discovered in 17799 by Charles Messier.
Celestron 8 inch HD Edge telescope
Canon 6D unmodified camera
Captured using APT
Stacked with Sequator
Processed with Pixinsight
101 exposures of 90 seconds each a total of 1 hour 55 minutes
ISO 1600
Also known as M63, or NGC 5055, is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici.
Distance from Earth is 37,000,000 light years.
Location, date and time: Petrov vrh, 19/20..5.2012.
Optical system: 120/900 ED APO
Camera and filters: Canon EOS 450D
Montage and guiding: NEQ6, Ascom camera, PHD Guiding
Total time: 3 h 10 min, 19 frames, ISO 800
Software: DSS, PS-CS3
Thanks for your kind comments & faves
© 2012 Dunja All rights reserved
Spiral galaxy in the Canes Venatici constellation some 37million ly away. I resolved two much fainter and smaller galaxies at approx. 2 and 8 o'clock from M63 but could not find out the designations on either stellarium or by plate solving on Astrobin.
24x300s @ISO800
SW150P, x0.9CC, Baader modded Canon 1100D, CLS clip filter, NEQ6(guided)
NGC5055 eller M63, även kallad Solrosgalaxen, upptäcktes 1779 av den franske astronomen Pierre Méchain. Kollegan Charles Messier listade den som nr.63 i sin katalog den 14de juni samma år.
I början på 1800-talet blev den en av de första galaxerna man lyckades se en spiralstruktur i och framåt 1850 hade man identifierat ytterligare tretton stycken, då så kallade "spiralnebulosor"
Det skulle ta ytterligare drygt 70 år innan man visste att det man såg var andra galaxer.
M63 ligger vid Karlavagnen, ca 30-40 miljoner ljusår från oss. Diametern är 135.000 ljusår och den innehåller fler än 400 miljarder stjärnor.
Runt Karlavagnen ligger även M51, M81, M82, M94, M101 och M106, som också finns i detta album.
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--- Kåhögsobservatoriet ---
Fotograferad från trädgården 17/4, 18/4, 19/4 2020
Total exponeringstid: 4tim 50min
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--- Technical info ---
Target: M63
Focal Length: 1950 mm
Resolution: 0.48 arcsec/px
Imaging telescope: Celestron EdgeHD 11 @f7
Imaging camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro
Gain: 120
Sensor temp: -10° C
Filter: Hutech IDAS LPS-P2
Guiding telescope: Orion TOAG
Guiding camera: Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2
Mount: iOptron CEM60
Accessories: PoleMaster, Celestron Focus Motor
Software: PHD2, NINA, PixInsight
Dates: Apr 17, 18, 19 2020
Frames: 58x300”
Integration: 4.8 hours
The Sunflower Galaxy, M63 aka NGC 5055 is in the constellation Canes Venatici. It's about 37 million light years away and is part of the M51 Group which, not surprisingly, includes M51.
This was an absolute pig to process. It's not hugely bright and needs a lot more than the 50 minutes I was able to give it. Still - I can cross it off the list now! :)
4 June 2011
200p, EQ5 unguided
Nikon D70 full spectrum prime focus
50 x 60sec
iso 1600
darks, bias and flats.
Stacked in DSS processed in CS5
M63 is located in the constellation of Canes Venetici, near the Big Dipper. The numerous knots and HII regions in the tight spiral center give this galaxy its moniker, the Sunflower Galaxy. It lies about 37 million miles distant and is part of the same galaxy group as M51 (The Whirlpool Galaxy).
Takahashi Sky 90 at f/4.5
SBIG STL-4020M (self-guided)
Takahashi EM-200
Hutech LPS filter
Luminance: 17x5 minutes
RGB: 10x3 minutes (binned 2x2) each channel
Processed with Maxim/DL and Photoshop CS3
Noel Carboni's Astronomy Tools
Salut à tous,
Voici M63 (NGC5055) également connue sous le nom de la galaxie du Tournesol.
Distante de 25 millions d'années lumière, elle se situe dans la constellation des Chiens de chasse.
Découverte par Pierre Méchain en 1779 (200 ans avant ma naissance 😉 ), c'est une galaxie spirale dite "floculante" (les bras spiraux ne sont pas égaux et aussi symétriques qu'une spirale traditionnelle).
Ses motifs et sa taille ( environ 12' sur 7') en font un objet plutôt accessible pour les astrophotographes, son élévation actuelle ainsi que la qualité du ciel de La Fosse (Manhay) m'ont permis de capturer de nombreux détails.
Informations de prise de vue :
Lieu / date : La Fosse (Manhay, Belgique) - 25/03/2022
Acquisition : 04h27 (89 x 180 sec) + DOF
Matériel : EQ6R pro - C8 EdgeHD @1400mm - Asi2600 mc
Traitement : Siril - Pixinsight - Lightroom
Grande résolution :
Bon ciel !
Image of M63 (Sunflower Galaxy, NGC5055) made from some DSS stacked shots taken during the early hours of today using a Canon EOS 60D mounted on a Skywatcher 200 reflector.
The Sunflower Galaxy, also known as NGC5055, is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Canes Venatici at a distance of about 29 million light-years away.
Taken from May-June 2019 from Campbell, CA, USA. Sky: 18.80 mag/arcsec^2
Total integration: 2,115 mins (35 hr 15 mins)
Details, Equipment, & Software:
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT10RCT (FL2000mm f/8)
Camera: SBIG STF-8300m (-10°C)
Filter: Astrodon 36mm LRGB & Hα
Guide: OAG-8300 with QHY5III174
Focuser: Moonlite CSL w/ high res stepper motor
Mount: Astro-Physics AP1100GTO
Capture: Sequence Generator Pro
Frames:
Astrodon L: 132x300s
Astrodon R: 48x300s
Astrodon G: 48x300s
Astrodon B: 48x300s
Astrodon Hα: 49x900s
Stacking/Final Processing: Pixinsight
M63, NCG 5055, or the Sunflower Galaxy. This is a relatively data-sparse compilation of 60 RAW sub frames. I ran out of time before the moon came over the horizon and made the signal to noise ratio far less satisfactory.
Check out this image of the same galaxy. I'm working on it...
The Sunflower Galaxy M63 NGC 5055 110 of 123 90-95sec subs totaling 2hrs 50min integration time on 4/20/2014. Average seeing, average transparency
Hap Griffin-modded Astrodon UV/IR filtered T2i w/ MPCC
AT8IN on hypertuned Warps Drive LXD75.
Canon 500d on Meade LX90 @ f/6.3. Total exposure time was 2hr 46mins + darks & flat frames. It is situated in the constellation of canes venatici and is around 37 million light years away.
29 5min subs ISO 800 stacked in DSS then adjusted in PS CS2. Canon 400D(modded) Orion Atlas mount and the scope is a Celestron 8 SCT with a .63 focal reducer(FL 1280) and a Orion ED80 refractor as a guide scope.
M63 taken between 30/05-2009 and 02/06/2009 from Swindon UK.
Camera: Starlight express HX916
Scope: Skywatcher 10" f4.8 newt
Mount : Conrad/Rajiva Modded skywatcher EQ6 (Not skyscan)
Guiding : Guidemaster/ toucam pro II and Skywatcher 80Ed
the image is L-Ha/R-G-B ( Ha/R mix 50% lighten
L = 30 x 5 min's bin x 1
Ha =15 x 4 min's bin x 2
R = 10 x 5 min's bin x 1
G = 9 x 5 min's bin x 1
B = 11 x 5 min's bin x 1
Mike.
M63 - The Sunflower Galaxy. SXVF-M25C on 8" Skywatcher Reflector with Baader MPCC, EQ6 SkyScan Mount. 18 images of 400 secs. each, guided, processed in PS7.
Average seeing, pretty poor transparency
Sunflower galaxy, Messier 63, NGC 5055. RGB and Ha composite.
Distance: 27 million lyrs
Diameter: 100,000 lyrs
Age: 13.28 billion years
Mass 110 billion solar masses
Apparent size: 7x13 arcmin
Constellation: Canes Venatici, The Hunting Dogs (chasing Ursa Major, The Great Bear)
Sunflower Galaxy, part of the M51 Group of galaxies.
Photograph taken in Red, Green, Blue broadband filters, and ionised Hydrogen emission line
narrowband filter. Total exposures15.8 hrs.
R 2x2 bin - 8x300s = 0.7hrs, 23-24 March 2021
R 2x2 bin- 11x300s (East side) + 14x300s (West side) = 2.1hrs, 30-31 March 2021
G 2x2 bin - 6x600s (East side) = 1hr, 1 June 2021
G 2x2 bin - 16x600s (East side) = 2.7hrs, 2 June 2021
B 2x2 bin - 14x600s (East side) = 2.3hrs, 6 June 2021
B 2x2 bin - 20x300s (East side) = 1 hr, 12-13 June 2021
B 2x2 bin - 18x600s (East side) = 3hrs, 13-14 June 2021
Ha 2x2 bin - 12x900s (East side) = 3 hrs, 9 June 2021
Rig:
Imaging scope: SW Startravel 150mm F5, 2.5x Celetron Luminos 2inch imaging barlow, Atik 460EX mono
Guide scope: SW Evostar 90mm F10, with guiding XY stage, ZWO 120MM camera
Guiding: 2 stage PHD: high frequency guide scope (mount tracking) and low frequency OAG image train guiding (guidescope flex)
Mount: Home made German Equatorial pillow block mount, permanently rooftop mounted. Spring loaded DEC axis gearing.
Other gadgets: ST4 based anti vibration shutter, ST4 based PEC
Processing:
PixInsight: Lights, Darks, Flats, Biases, Align Calibration, StarNet2 star removal/star layer
GradXpert: Gradient removal
Topaz DeNoise AI: Noise removal
Affinity Photo: 32 bit image processing (curves, high pass masking, selective colour)
My first attempt at catching M63. It's a rather small object for my equipment, so the galaxy is pretty small. Also, at the end of the session, I didn't have that many good images to use.
Date: Aug 9th, 2018
Location: Sugag (Alba), Romania
Technical details: Canon 750D & Stellarvue 80ED + flattener
41 x 1min; ISO 1600
Flats, darks and bias.
The various spiral arm segments of the Sunflower galaxy, also known as Messier 63, show up vividly in this image taken in infrared light by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Infrared light is sensitive to the dust lanes in spiral galaxies, which appear dark in visible-light images. Spitzer's view reveals complex structures that trace the galaxy's spiral arm pattern.
Messier 63 is 37 million light years away -- not far from the well-known Whirlpool galaxy and the associated Messier 51 group of galaxies.
The dust, glowing red in this image, can be traced all the way down into the galaxy's nucleus, forming a ring around the densest region of stars at its center. The dusty patches are where news stars are being born.
The short diagonal line seen on the lower right side of the galaxy's disk is actually a much more distant galaxy, oriented with its edge facing toward us.
Blue shows infrared light with wavelengths of 3.6 microns, green represents 4.5-micron light and red, 8.0-micron light. The contribution from starlight measured at 3.6 microns has been subtracted from the 8.0-micron image to enhance the visibility of the dust features.
The various spiral arm segments of the Sunflower galaxy, also known as Messier 63, show up vividly in this image taken in infrared light by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Infrared light is sensitive to the dust lanes in spiral galaxies, which appear dark in visible-light images. Spitzer's view reveals complex structures that trace the galaxy's spiral arm pattern.
Messier 63 is 37 million light years away -- not far from the well-known Whirlpool galaxy and the associated Messier 51 group of galaxies.
The dust, glowing red in this image, can be traced all the way down into the galaxy's nucleus, forming a ring around the densest region of stars at its center. The dusty patches are where new stars are being born.
The short diagonal line seen on the lower right side of the galaxy's disk is actually a much more distant galaxy, oriented with its edge facing toward us.
Blue shows infrared light with wavelengths of 3.6 and 4.5 microns, green represents 8.0-micron light and red, 24-micron light.
The Sunflower Galaxy (M63) is a spiral galaxy 37 million light years away and found in the constellation of Canes Venatici. It is part of the M51 Group, a group of galaxies that also includes M51 (the 'Whirlpool Galaxy'). M63 is one of the first galaxies in which spiral structures were identified.
This image was made on March 25th 2015 from 57 x 30 second exposures at 6400 ISO along with 10 dark frames and eight flat frames. It's also the first experiment in using an AltAz mount on a homemade wedge for polar alignment.
The various spiral arm segments of the Sunflower galaxy, also known as Messier 63, show up vividly in this image taken in infrared light by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Infrared light is sensitive to the dust lanes in spiral galaxies, which appear dark in visible-light images. Spitzer's view reveals complex structures that trace the galaxy's spiral arm pattern.
Messier 63 is 37 million light years away -- not far from the well-known Whirlpool galaxy and the associated Messier 51 group of galaxies.
The dust, glowing red in this image, can be traced all the way down into the galaxy's nucleus, forming a ring around the densest region of stars at its center. The dusty patches are where news stars are being born.
The short diagonal line seen on the lower right side of the galaxy's disk is actually a much more distant galaxy, oriented with its edge facing toward us.
Blue shows infrared light with wavelengths of 3.6 microns, green represents 4.5-micron light and red, 8.0-micron light. The contribution from starlight measured at 3.6 microns has been subtracted from the 8.0-micron image to enhance the visibility of the dust features.
The Sunflower Galaxy (also known as M63, Messier 63 or NGC 5055) is a spiral galaxy 37 million light years away from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici.
This is a reprocessed, cropped and binned version of an image of M63 taken back in March. This time, processing was done in Nebulosity instead of Deep Sky Stacker and the result is much better I think. 53 x 30 second exposures at 6400 ISO plus 10 dark frames, eight flat frames and 20 bias/offset frames.
The Sunflower galaxy, M63, is one of the early recognized spiral galaxies. It has been classified as a Hubble type Sb or Sc, displaying a patchy spiral pattern which can be traced well to the periphery of its only 6 arc seconds small smooth-textured central region. Although 6 degrees south of M51, it is considered part of a physical group consisting of M51 and several smaller galaxies. M63 lies in the constellation Canes Venatici and is approximately 37 million light years from our Milky Way galaxy.
Unguided Image of 25 x 240s ISO 1600 with Canon EOS 400 D unmod. on an NEQ3 Mount. Skywatcher 6'' f/5 Newton
This galaxy is located in the constellation of Canes Venatici.
Location: Waterloo, ON (red zone)
Date: May 21-22, 2020
LRGB image comprised of:
30x2min Luminance
7x3min Blue
15x3min Green
15x3min Red
Total Integration: 2 hours 51 minutes
Imaging scope: Celestron Edge 9.25
Effective Focal Length: 1660 mm
Imaging Camera: ASI1600MM
Mount: AP1100GTO
Filter Wheel: QHYFW2
Gain: 139
Guide Camera: QHYIII5174M via KWIQ Guider
Image capture and auto-focus via SGP.
Image processing & calibration: Pixinsight