Southern Sky Gems Observatory, Tivoli AstroFram, Kalahari Desert, Namibia

Total Exposure Time: 25.5 hours Bin1:L 93 x 10 min.;Bin1:R,G,B,Ha = 19,14,17,10 x 10min. each
This image is 1900x1450 pixels

Officina Stellare RiDK 305 F7.9 OTA
SBIG STF8300M, AP GTO1200 mount, guided w/MaximDL
RA 19h 09m 47s, Dec -63° 50' 17"
Pos Angle +270° 09', FL 2414.2 mm, 0.46"/Pixel

Processed with PixInSight using IP4AP methodologies (www.ip4ap.com)

Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 6744 is nearly 175,000 light-years across, larger than our own Milky Way. It lies some 30 million light-years distant in the southern constellation Pavo.
This giant galaxy's yellowish core is dominated by the light from old, cool stars. Beyond the core, spiral arms filled with young blue star clusters and reddish
star forming regions sweep past a smaller satellite galaxy at the lower right, reminiscent of the Milky Way's satellite galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud.
(Ref. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140808.html)