M65

M65: This spiral galaxy is in the constellation Leo and is part of the Leo Trio of galaxies, also called the M66 group, that include M66 and NGC 3628. The very symmetric disk is not quite edge-on, and may or may not have a bar. For more information see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_65 for more information.

Messier: 65
NGC: 3623
Right Ascension: 11h 18m 56s
Declination: 13° 5' 32"
Apparent Magnitude: 10.25

Date: May 2014
Equipment:
Telescope: Meade 16" Schmidt Cassegrain with f6.3 reducer
Camera: SBIG ST-10XE
Guiding: Meade 5" refractor; Starshoot Autoguider; PHD

Exposure:
L: 12x10 minute subframes binned 1x1.
Color frames were taken with photometric (RVB), rather than photographic (RGB) filters.
R: 7x5 minute subframes binned 2x2.
V: 6x5 minute subframes binned 2x2.
B: 6x5 minute subframes binned 2x2.

Processing Notes: Data acquisition with CCDSoft. Reduction, and alignment, data selection and combination with CCDStack. RVB was combined in CCDStack with a ratio of ~1:1.7:4.6, and using a background white balance. L and RVB images were stretched and tweaked separately in Photoshop and combined with layers. Significant smoothing and increase in color saturation on RVB image. The luminance layer received sharpening via unsharp mask on the brighter areas, and Gaussian blur on the dimmer areas. Contrast enhancement was achieved by applying a highpass filter in a duplicate luminance layer set as an overlay. Many of the brighter stars were repaired (made rounder) in Photoshop.
Scale: .53"/pixel

Links to images of this object on other sites:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070601.html
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap980807.html

Additional Comments: Data was acquired during several evenings, with students Kevin Graves, Geoff Johnson, Gayle Owen, and Theo Wecker setting up the telescope for observations and taking appropriate flat field images. A wide-field image of the Leo Trio taken in 2012 can be found here: http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=258

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