DSLR astrophotography by Sergi Verdugo
M106 and companions
DETAILS
Exposure: 21×600″ @ ISO 800
Telescope: Skywatcher Newton 8″ f5 with Baader MPCC
Filter: Hutech IDAS LPS P2 2″
Mount: Skywatcher EQ6 Pro
Camera: Amp-off modded and direct peltier cooled Canon 350D
Date: 4th June 2010
Location: Rasos de Peguera (Barcelona, Spain)
Comments: It was a clear sky night with very good seeing conditions but the humidity was very high.
M106, also known as NGC4258, is the big galaxy at the left part of the image. It is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. M106 is about 22 to 25 million light-years away from Earth. It is also a Seyfert II galaxy, which means that due to x-rays and unusual emission lines detected, it is suspected that part of the galaxy is falling into a supermassive black hole in the center.
NGC4217, at the right part of the image, is an edge-on galaxy lying only 30 arc minutes southwest from M106. It is 12th magnitude.
These 2 galaxies and many other much smaller that can be observed on the background of the image are part of the Canes II group or Canes Venatici II group, which is a group of galaxies about 26.1 million light-years away from the Earth. The group resides in the Local Supercluster. The largest galaxy within the cluster is M106.