This beautiful spiral galaxy is listed under number 99 in Messier’s catalog. It can be visually located during the spring months in the southwest corner of the constellation Coma Berenices. The galaxy has several spiral arms, which are the product of the interaction with another galaxy. This interaction also induced very high angular velocity, which is the highest in Messier’s catalog. Specifically, the outer parts move with a velocity of 1200 km/s with respect to the center of the galaxy.
I dedicated two nights to this galaxy. The telescope was collecting two whole nights the light traveling 45 million light-years. In total, the picture is a stack of 130 single shots, each 3 minutes long.
Telescope | Newton 254/1000 mm |
Aperture | 254 mm |
Focal length | 950 mm |
Mount | Gemini G53f |
Autoguiding | ZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm |
Camera | ZWO 071 Pro @-10°C |
Corrector | MaxField coma corrector |
Filters | No |
Exposure | 130x180s, Gain 95, bin 1x1, |
Date | 2021-04-05 |