NGC 2903 is a barred spiral galaxy about 20 million light-years distant and popular among amateur astronomers. Being in the constellation Leo, near the top of the lion's head it was in the perfect spot for me to image it. My only problem is the small aperture ED80 telescope. This is probably my limit for galaxies in fact I was dubious about imaging it but there was not any bigger galaxies that I have not already imaged in the available region so I took a chance. I am happy with how it turned out considering what I used. There is more detail than I expected. Also, NGC 2916, listed as a radio galaxy appears on the left side of the image.
The spiral arms are visible along with the details of the bright core and extraordinary dust and gas clouds. NGC 2903 exhibits an exceptional rate of star formation activity near its center. The size of this galaxy is just a little smaller than our own Milky Way at about 80,000 light-years across making it a good twin of us (source: APOD).
Crop
Wide Field
Location: Happy Frog Observatory, Monroe, CT
Date: 04-5-18
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 (HEQ5)
Filter: Astrodon UV/IR
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
Exposure: 51 x 90s
ISO: 1600
Temp: 4 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Gradient Exterminator, Astronomy Tools.
https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/
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