M94 - The Starburst Galaxy

Messier 94 (a.k.a. as NGC 4736 or Starburst Galaxy) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici and lies approximately 14.5 million light-years from Earth.  Compared to the Milky Way, this galaxy is about half the size with a diameter of 50,000 light-years across.  It has a bright nucleus compared to other galaxies and really does have a brownish tint.  Looking at Hubble images you can see a lot of dust within the spiral arms. There is also an outer bluish ring, faint in my image with my little ED80 - larger scopes will do a better job with this, where young massive stars are forming. (source: wikipedia, APOD).

Crop

Wide Field

M94 (The Starburst Galaxy)
Location: Happy Frog Observatory, Monroe, CT
Date: 3-29-17
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i(a), Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm
f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Focal Reducer: Orion 0.8x Focal Reducer for Refractor Telescopes
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Filter: Astrodon UV/IR
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
Exposure: 56 x 90s
ISO: 1600
Temp: -1.0 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Lightroom, Gradient Exterminator, Astronomy Tools, StarTools.