Messier object number 74 (NGC628), also known as the "Phantom Galaxy" (apparently because it has a very low surface brightness). Our faint friend here is located in the galaxy of Pisces ( the Fishes) at a distance of about 6 million light years. Because of its reported very faint surface brightness, the decision was made with this image capture project to extend the acquisition time a little more than would be required for other, brighter, objects. Hence the 40+ hours of integration time. Data for this image were captured in September/October 2024.
The galaxy comes in at an angular size of 10.5' x 9.5' minutes which is the smallest object size that is worth imaging with my equipment configuration. The field of view with the ASI2600 camera and TSA120 OTA (with focal reducer) is about 2d x 1.3d. It was necessary to crop the field down by half to get a reasonable view of the object in the final processed image.
Link to image on Astrobin here.
CS,
Rodney
