M109

M109: A bright barred spiral galaxy in Ursa Major

Messier: 109
NGC: 3992
Other Catalogs: UGC 6937
Right Ascension: 11 hrs 57.7 min
Declination: 53° 22.5'
Apparent Magnitude: 10.6

Date: June 2008
Equipment:
Telescope: Meade 16" Schmidt Cassegrain with f6.3 reducer
Camera: SBIG ST-10XE
Guiding: Meade 5" refractor/DSI Pro/PHD

Exposure: L:R:G:B = 26:11:11:11 with one minute subframes
Processing Notes: Image capture and reduction in CCDSoft. Final adjustments in AstroArt.
Scale: 1.01"/pixel

Additional Comments: This was one of the last "pre-wedge" images. Besides having not much total exposure time, there was a nasty color gradient that was removed at a much later date. The challenge with shooting in Alt-Az mode is that the "correct" flat keeps changing with each exposure, since the field de-rotator keeps moving the camera.

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