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A Celestial Whale in Canes Venatici
Amateur Astronomy Picture of the Day
Amateur Astronomy Picture of the Day
A Celestial Whale in Canes Venatici
A Celestial Whale in Canes Venatici
William R. Mattil, Ft Griffin, Texas
Image taken with a 10 inch Ritchey Chretien, AP900 Mount and SBIG ST-10XME/CFW10. 7x600 seconds Luminance, 6x300s RGB binned 2x. Sub Exposures calibrated, aligned and combined in CCDStack. Final color combine done in Photoshop CS2. Image Scale is .62" per pixel @ 2276mm of focal length.
Image Center: RA 12h 42m 37s, Dec +32d 29m 19s, Pos Angle 170.3d
NGC 4631 is an edge-on spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. This galaxy's slightly distorted wedge shape gives it the appearance of a herring or whale, which is why it is infrequently referred to as the Whale Galaxy. Because this nearby galaxy is seen edge-on from Earth, professional astronomers observe this galaxy to better understand the gas and stars located outside the plane of the galaxy.
Global Rent a Scope (GRAS) is a proud to be the sponsor of the Amateur Astronomy Picture of the Day (AAPOD), hosted by Astronomy.FM. The Monthly winner of AAPOD will receive a GRAS account with 300 points to access our robotic telescopes located in New Mexico and Australia.
Do you want to take your own Deep Space images?
Astronomy.FM and Global Rent-a-Scope have teamed up to bring you a free trial account to use on two of their remote-operated observatories. Our special trial account will give you 100 points of free access to GRAS's one-click imaging systems on their remote telescopes, G3 (in New Mexico), G13 (in Australia). Registration does not require a credit card or any commitment from you. At the end of your trial, you will be able to upgrade to a full-use GRAS account that will let you access all of their telescopes.
These image where taken with GRAS free trial account.
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Astronomy.FM, an amateur astronomy focused organization, has as its mission "to explore, enjoy, and promote astronomy and space science; to encourage and facilitate the growth of astronomy science to professionals, amateurs, and students, and to bring awareness to the public; to educate and inspire humanity to 'look skyward' and learn." Membership is free and without obligation. Members and the public can listen to broadcasts using links at Astronomy.FM.
