M98-M99

Messier 98 (a.k.a. NGC 4192) is an intermediate spiral galaxy located about 44.4 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices and about 6° to the east of the bright star Denebola making it easy to locate.  Most galaxies are redshifted meaning they are receding from us, however, M98 has a blue shift and is approaching us at about 140 km/s (source: wikipedia).

Messier 99 (a.k.a. NGC 4254) is an unbarred spiral galaxy approximately 50 million light-years away next to M98 in the constellation Coma Berenices. The galaxy has a normal looking arm and an extended arm that is less tightly wound (source: wikipedia).

This was the first object I was able to get any exposures of in over two weeks due to cloudy weather. The night started with clouds but eventually cleared up.  Unfortunately it was not completely clear. I took over two hours of exposure, however, a very faint high cloud layer moved in during the evening.  When it was all said and done I wound up 45 minute of exposure.  The nice thing about astrophotography of deep sky objects is you can go back to them at a latter date and add more exposure.

Numbers 71 and 72 on my Messier catalog.
https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/

Wide Field

M98 Crop

M99 Crop

M98-M99
Location: Happy Frog Observatory, Monroe, CT
Date: 4-28-17
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: 31 x 90s
ISO: 1600
Temp: 18 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Lightroom, Gradient Exterminator, Astronomy Tools, StarTools.