Messier 99 (2024)

This is my latest version of Messier 99 (M99), my only other version of this is from 2017 taken with my Canon T3i/600d attached to the ED80. M99, also known as NGC 4254 or St. Catherine's Wheel, is a spiral galaxy located 40 million light years away in the constellation of Coma Berenices. It is approximately 40 million light-years away and 75,000 ly in diameter. Numerous other galaxies much further away than M99 are also present in this image.

Although the galaxy looks to be face-on, it is actually inclined 42° from our line of sight. Another interesting item is that one arm is more tightly wound than the other and the core seems to be slightly offset from the center. Interactions with other galaxies are the likely cause of the peculiar shape. The galaxy is not classified as a starburst galaxy, however, studies indicate that it has star formation 3x larger than other similar galaxies. As evidence many blue star clusters make up the arms and give it a blue tint. Note: Hydrogen nebular regions which would normally appear red are also found in the arms but unfortunately I was unable to bring them out - I did collect some Ha data which would have helped but it did not look good due to bad sky conditions or camera ice so I did not use it.

Dates: 5-2-24, 5-12, 5-28, 5-30, 5-31, 6-1, 6-3

Higher Quality:

https://www.astrobin.com/pjxd6k/?nc=collection&nce=712

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Messier 99 (2024)
Dates: 5-2-24, 5-12, 5-28, 5-30, 5-31, 6-1, 6-3
Camera: ZWO ASI294MC-Pro
Telescope: Celestron EdgeHD 800
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 2032mm (native), 1400mm
F/10 (native), F/7
Focal Reducer: Celestron 0.7 Reducer Lens
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro
Filter Adaptor: ZWO Filter Drawer
Filter: Camera UV-IR
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: Askar M54 OAG/ZWO ASI174 mini
Exposure: UV-IR 455 x 90 (11h 22m)
Gain: 139
Offset 0
Temp: -10 C
Processing: Asiair app, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXT, NoiseXT, StarX, Bill's Colormasks, Bill's Stretching, GraXpert, GradientXT, Topaz Denoise