Galaxy NGC3344

April 2023

Imaging: TS130 apo, ZWO ASI2600 (100 gain, -10C), Neo & LeNh
Subs: 489x60s (8h), 73x180s (3h), darks, flats, and darkflats
Software: NINA, Phd2, PixInsight, BXT, NXT, SXT

(Additional notes below)

Gallery

Notes

NGC 3344 is a barred spiral galaxy located 22.5 million light years away in the constellation Leo Minor. This is what our Milky Way might look like to an alien in a different galaxy. To the alien, we would be located about 1/3 of the way in on one of those spirals.

This galaxy is one of the few that I can capture at my telescope's current location in the backyard. This is my first galaxy picture with a new scope I bought back in December. Unfortunately, it took a few months to get all the pieces needed to make a new setup. Then another month debugging/fixing issues with some light reflections. With this longer focus length scope, one can get additional detail on galaxies. Of course, it is also makes the imaging more difficult because errors are also magnified. But happy with the result considering it is 130 million trillion miles away!

I imaged this same galaxy with my shorter focal length telescope in April 2022. To see the difference between the two scopes (plus an extra year of experience), take a look at this GIF.