NGC 6744 is located deep south, in the Constellation of Pavo at 25 million light year away. It sits in a rich star field and is inclined to our line of sight. It is believed to one of the most Milky Way-like of all the nearby spirals, with fluffy (flocculent) spiral arms and a large and distinctly elongated nucleus. It also has other similarities to the Milky Way: it has a satellite irregular galaxy NGC 6744 A which is visible in the image as a faint bar below left. Very interesting to see that most likely NGC 6744 A is pulling and stretching the left arm,. likewise the companion will ultimately merge with NGC 6744 in the future.
The image was taken with a 6 inches f5 Orion Optics UK Newtonian and a QSI 583 WS camera riding in a SW NEQ6 Mounts 150 km north from Buenos Aires City, Argentina. The total exposure time invested amounts to 3 hours through LRGB Baader filters.