This pair of galaxies are M66 and M65, which are on the left and the right respectively. They are located in the eastern part of the constellation Leo the Lion, just around the centre of the Lion's imaginary femur. In M65, there is a supernova which you can see below the nucleus of the galaxy, halfway to the edge and a little left. This apparent star is not usually there, and it was brightening in the days leading up to when I took this photograph on the evening of April 6th. I took it in the usual way, with my modified Canon 1000D on our society's 20 inch motorised Dobsonian, and stacking lots of 30 second exposures. I was careful with the calibration frames in that they were gathered during the previous twilight. I've processed the image a little more gently than usual and used a digital development algorithm to make the image look a little more like peering in a huge telescope. I'm amazed with the detailed structures I can see in these two fantastic galaxies.
No comments:
Post a Comment