| Designation |
Messier 61 - NGC 4303
|
| Type | Spiral Bar (Face on) - type SAB(rs)bcI-II |
| Constellation | Virgo |
| Coordinates | Telescope centered at RA '12 22 03' - Dec '+ 04 27 59' |
| Magnitude | 9.7 |
| Size | 110,000 light years in diameter |
| Distance | 60-65 million light years |
| Dimensions | 6 x 5.9 arcminutes |
| Image Field | 22 x 16 arcminutes |
|
Notes:
|
M61 is one of the larger galaxies in the Coma/Virgo supercluster. It has an absolute magnitude of -21.2 equating to a luminosity of 22 million suns. It is roughly the size of our own Milky Way galaxy. |
|
|
| Telescopes | Meade 10" LX200 f/10 on Losmandy G-11 with Gemini L3 |
| Focal Length | 1575 mm @ f/6.3 |
| Guiding | SXV guidehead through Takahashi FS60C @ f/5.9 |
| Telescope Control | Maxim DL (V4.07) |
| CCD Camera |
Starlight Xpress SXV-H9 - USB 2 ExView progressive scan
1392
x 1040 (6.45 uM) pixel array (8.98 x 6.71 active area)
|
| Image Scale | .88 arcsec/pixel |
| Filters |
1.25" Astronomik Type II Dichroic IR blocking
filters in Astronomik filter drawer - Clear, Red, Green, Blue, Ha
|
| Exposures |
Total
exposure time: 222 minutes: Luminance 110 (22 x 5)
unbinned, R,G,B - 24 (8x3) minutes each binned 2x2, Ha 40
(8x5) binned 2x2
Sigma combined
|
| Calibration | none |
| Processing Software | Maxim DL, Photoshop CS (8.0), NEAT image (color channel smoothing), Gradient Xterminator |
| Location | Chiefland Astronomy Village, FL - 29.393 N , - 82.863 W |
| Date/Time | 05/07/05 - 01:55 - 06:27UT |
