Messier 74 (also known as NGC 628) is a face-on spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces. It is at a distance of about 32 million light-years away from Earth. The galaxy contains two clearly defined spiral arms and is therefore used as an archetypal example of a Grand Design Spiral Galaxy. The galaxy's low surface brightness makes it the most difficult Messier object for amateur astronomers to observe. However, the relatively large angular size of the galaxy and the galaxy's face-on orientation make it an ideal object for professional astronomers who want to study spiral arm structure and spiral density waves. It is estimated that M74 is home to about 100 billion stars.

On March 22, 2005, it was announced that the Chandra X-ray Observatory had observed an ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) in M74, radiating more X-ray power than a neutron star in periodic intervals of around two hours. It has an estimated mass of around 10,000 Suns. This is an indicator of an intermediate-mass black hole. This would be a rather uncommon class of black holes, somewhere in between in size of stellar black holes and the massive black holes theorized to reside in the center of many galaxies. Because of this, they are believed to form not from single supernovae, but possibly from a number of lesser stellar black holes in a star cluster. The X-ray source is identified as CXOU J013651.1+154547. (Narrative Credit: Wikipedia)

To see largest available size click on "Original" at bottom of page

To see full screen press F11. Press F11 again to return to normal screen

This image is a collaboration with my good friend, John Struckmeyer. John acquired the exposure data for this image and, as usual, his data is excellent, making my processing task much easier.

Dates:
September,October, 2012

Locations:
Ft. Griffin State Historic Site, Texas - LRGB Data
Irving, Texas - Ha Data

Telescope:
RCOS 12.5 RC @ f/9 2800mm FL

Mount:
Astro-Physics 1200 guided by ST-10XME using the Remote Guide Head
Thru Hutech Off Axis Guider

Camera:
SBIG ST-10XME at prime focus with CFW8 and
LRGB and Ha filters

Image Scale:
.5 arcsecs/pxl

Camera Control:
Maxim DL 4

Exposures:
Luminance - 450 mins; 1x1
Red - 120 mins; 2x2
Green - 125 mins; 2x2
Blue - 140 mins; 2x2
Ha - 480 mins; 1x1
Combined as: L,R(80%Ha),G,B(20%Ha)

Exposure time:
21 hrs 54 mins
Processing:
CCDStack; Photoshop CS2; StarSpikes Pro 2