The Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253) - a photo on Flickriver

            Image by Martin Heigan

The oldest light I've photographed thus far, from a Galaxy far, far away  (11.42 million light years from Earth).

The Sculptor Galaxy, also known as the Silver Coin or Silver Dollar Galaxy (NGC 253), is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor. It is a Starburst galaxy, which means that it is undergoing a period of intense star formation (well it was 11.42 million years ago, as the light took that long to reach us). Recent research suggests the presence in the centre of this galaxy of a supermassive black hole, with a mass estimated to be 5 million times that of our Sun.

Photographed at the West Rand Astronomy Club's Annual Star Party at Mountain Sanctuary Park (North-West Province, South Africa).

A special thank you to Neil Viljoen of the "Telescope Shop" for his assistance.

Gear:
GSO 6" f/4 Imaging Newtonian Telescope (Astrograph).
Celestron Advanced VX Equatorial Mount.
Canon 60Da DSLR (sensitive to IR light at 656.28 nm).
Astronomik CLS Light Pollution Filter.
StarShoot AutoGuider (Guiding in PHD2).
Image Acquisition via Sequence Generator pro.
Stacked 5 min. exposures (Lights/Subs).
Calibration Frames: Darks and Bias frames (no Flats).
Processed in PixInsight.

Martin
--

   

Taken on: August 15, 2015

Tags:

Galaxy

Sets appears in: • Martin Heigan

Groups appears in: • astrometry

Camera: Canon EOS 60D, f/4.0, 300 sec, 50mm, ISO 1600 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 60D
Aperture:	f/4.0
Exposure Time:	300
Focal Length:	50mm
ISO:	1600
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Bulb
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Spot
White Balance:	Manual
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)
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