Black Eye Galaxy

[Mark_Heli (Mark)]

It's been a while since I last tried to image any galaxies. Last night, I had the telescope out and after checking on SkySafari, I realised that there are loads of galaxies visible to the north at the moment.

I like the shape of the Black Eye Galaxy which is quiet distinctive. According to Wikipedia, this galaxy is ~24 Million Light years away.

I am pretty pleased with this picture, especially given that is was taken using the standard LX90 alt/az fork mount. At some point, I will need to upgrade to an EQ mount.

Object: M64 / Black Eye Galaxy
Location: Sydney
Date: 25/4/2014
Telescope: LX90 - Standard Alt/Az mount
Camera: Canon EOS 550d
Exposures: 4 x 60 seconds ISO 3200
Stacked using Deep Sky Stacker

Cheers,
Mark

[Mark_Heli (Mark)]

Last night I also captured the "Eyes Galaxies" (NGC 4435 / NGC 4438).

In the top right corner of the picture, you can also just see IC 3393 which is a mag 14.10 spiral galaxy. Not bad for an Alt-Az mount :-)

[RickS (Rick)]

You're making creative use of the gear! The Black Eye galaxy is quite a nice image.