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M109 - Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major
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Copyright 2007 Hap Griffin
M109 is a perfect example of a symmetric barred spiral galaxy. It is the major member of the Ursa Major cluster of galaxies...and indeed other galaxies can be spotted in this photograph. At the 9:30 position to M109 is an edge-on spiral galaxy, PGC 27700. At the 5:30 position and near the bottom is PGC 37553. Directly below M109 is PGC 37621. I would have liked to have gotten about twice the exposure, but the imaging session was cut short by the impending sunrise.
M109 lies
at a distance of 55 million light years.
Date/Location:
December 17, 2007 Griffin/Hunter II Observatory Bethune, SC
Instrument: Canon 40D (modified IR filtering) Digital SLR through
10" Newtonian w/MPCC
Focal Ratio: f/ 4.7
Guiding: SBIG ST-237 through Orion ED80
Conditions: Damnably cold for a Southern boy
Weather: 12 F
Exposure: 117 minutes total (39 x 3 minutes @ ISO 800)
Filters: Baader UV/IR block internal to camera
Processing: Focused and captured, RAW to TIFF conversion,
flat frame calibration, Digital Development, resizing and JPEG conversion in ImagesPlus.
Final tweaking in Photoshop
CS2.