The NGC 4261 NGC 4281 Galaxy Region

CLICK HERE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION - (2700x1800)

Scope: Levy Mak-Neutonian 152 mm at f/4.8; Location: Dos Picos Park, Ramona, CA;  1 May, 2010; Camera: Canon XT 350D (Baader ACF modified)

Exposure: 16 x 6 min  (unfiltered)   ISO 800 , 7 Darks, no Flats 

Processing: Images were captured with DSLR Focus  and saved as RAW file format. Exposures were decoded and dark corrected in IRIS. Exposures were aligned and stacked in IRIS with Sigma Median.  Dark point equalization and rough color balance  were done in IRIS.  Gamma and saturation adjustments were also done in IRIS.  Stretch and crop adjustments were done in Photoshop.   Background noise reduction was performed by PixInsight LE  (SGBNR).  Final stretching and touch up was done in PhotoShop.     Final Image size is approximately 3474x2314 - re-sampled to 2700x1800.

North is up in this image.  This image is guided.  This image frame is a relatively rich galaxy field, There are approximately 38 catalogued galaxies in this field. about half are visible in this image. The predominant galaxies in the center of this image are (from lower left to upper right) NGC 4281, NGC 4273, NGC 4270, NGC 4266, NGC 4261, and NGC 4260. Many of these galaxies are members of the larger well known Virgo Galaxy Cluster. There is also a faint, distant galaxy cluster known as Abel 1516 in the lower right of this image. The massive NGC 4261 galaxy toward the upper right is about 100 million light years distant from Earth   The Horizontal FOV is about 100 arcmin.

Image Center is approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 12h 20m 31s Dec: +05°38'01" 

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All images and content remain the property of Jim Thommes - copyright 2003 - 2012

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