M108 Galaxy

Object: M108
Constellation: Ursa Major
Distance: 45 Million Light-Years
Magnitude: 10.0
Comments: M108 is a convoluted galaxy seen nearly edge-on, and has neither a prominent bulge or core that can be well detected. It has a richly mottled disk with obscuring dust and a heavy population of young, bright , blue star-forming regions which seem to create turbulent and chaotic spiral arms, which are not readily apparent. It is a member of the Ursa Major Cloud, a loose agglomeration of galaxies to which M109 also belongs. Many small background galaxies can be seen in the background.

Date: 12-18-04
Place: Asheville, NC
Exposure Details: LRGB: 120:30:30:30, Lumincance unbinned; RGB binned 2
Processing: Processed using Registar, CCDSharp, Maxlm, and Photoshop CS

Optics: 12.5" RCOS Truss RC
Focal Length: 2122 at f6.8
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: ST-10XME
Focuser: RCOS
Guiding: Internal chip; AO-7
Filters: Tru-Balance LRGB 1 1/4"