We were much inspired by Paul Haese's exquisite marathon version of NGC 3621, a half-face-on galaxy in Hydra.
Our version has just 14 hours of exposure (9 hrs 30 min of luminance and 1 hr 30 min each of RGB), taken in snatches before moonrise over the last five nights.
Big one here
Apart from slight differences in colour, we are very pleased to see a quite similar galaxy to what Paul found. It is nice that there is something you can trust not to change every time you look.
A galaxy of contrasts: The core is flocculent, with only suggestions of spiral structure. The very centre does not appear especially bright. The outer spiral arms are very different: well-formed, almost grand design, but extremely faint. There is strong star formation occurring in the outer edges of the spiral arms especially toward 4 or 5 o'clock.
There is another very small grand design spiral about 50% of the way toward 12 o'clock which is worth a look, as well as the usual smattering of distant fellows.
Aspen CG16M at -30C on 20" PlaneWave on MI-750 mount. Processed with GoodLook.
Very best,
Mike and Trish