by Craig and Tammy Temple
In 1781, Charles Messier spotted this magnitude 10.40 Sbc spiral galaxy in Coma Berenecies. Also known as NGC4501 and VCC1401, it is one of the 15 Messier objects that belongs to the Virgo Cluster of approximately 1300+ galaxies. It lies at a distance of approximately 47 million light-years from Earth.
Telescope: Celestron C8 Schmidt-Cassegrain
Accessories: Celestron f/6.3 reducer/corrector; Dew control by Dew Buster®
Mount: Orion Atlas EQ-G controlled by EQMOD
Guiding: TS-OAG9 Off-axis, using Orion StarShoot AutoGuider
Camera: Canon Digital Rebel T1i, Hap Griffin Baader modified
Filters: Astronomik CLS-CCD EOS Clip
Exposure: 50 x 480sec @ ISO 800 (6hr. 40min.)
Acquisition: ImagesPlus 3.82 Camera Control
Processing: ImagesPlus 3.80a – Calibrated, registered, averaged, DDP
Post-processing: Adobe Photoshop CS4; Gradient XTerminator; Noise Ninja
Date(s): April 11 & 12, 2010
Temperature(s): N1:75ºF (dropped to 68ºF); N2:73ºF (dropped to 66ºF); N3:60ºF (dropped to 54ºF)
SQM reading (begin - end): N1:18.52 - 18.82; N2:18.41 - 19.10; N3:19.00 - 18.90