The Black Eye Galaxy (M64)

Posted by Peter Nerbun
on Thursday, August 16, 2018

This is my image of Messier 64, the Black Eye Galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenecies. Here is a summary of the length and number of camera exposures and dates for each of the color filters that I used over a period of 14 hours in June, July and August 2018:

Red: 14 x 8 minutes on July 7 2018
9 x 9 minutes on Aug 4 2018
Total = 193 minutes

Green: 12 x 8 minutes on July 9 2018
11 x 8 minutes on Jul 14 2018
Total = 184 minutes

Blue : 16 x 8 minutes on July 8 2018
1 x 5 minutes on Aug 6 2018
1 x 9 minutes on Aug 6 2018
11 x 8 minutes on Aug 6 2018
Total = 230 minutes

Luminance: 7 x 8 minutes on June 14 2018
21 x 5 minutes on June 15 2018
14 x 5 minutes on June 16 2018
Total = 231 minutes

Total Integration Time = 838 minutes
(14 hours)

I captured M64 with my C-11 SCT, an ATIK 460EX monochrome camera, LRGB color filters, a 0.63X focal reducer, an On Axis Guider, a Lodestar X2 guide camera and a motorized focuser.

The Black Eye galaxy collided with another galaxy and absorbed its contents more than a billion years ago; in the process a dark dust feature was deposited near the center of my image on the right side of the galaxy's core. The outer ring of the galaxy is rotating in the opposite direction with respect to the inner ring. M64 is located about 17 million light years from Earth and is 44% the size of our own Milky Way galaxy.

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