NGC 4676, known as the Mice Galaxies, are two spiral galaxies in the constellation Coma Berenices, approximately 290 million light years from Earth. The long tails result from tidal action — the relative difference in gravitation pull on the near (colliding) and far sides of the galaxies. The galaxies are incredibly dim and small, providing quite a challenge from our light polluted skies outside of Bangkok.
This image was taken with our Officina Stellare RiLA 600 f/5.0 telescope on an Officina Stellare direct drive polar fork mount. An FLI ML16200 CCD camera, chilled to -25C, captured 16-1/2 hours of luminance detail and 9 hours of color detail. The imaging system is controlled using Voyager software. Image processing in PixInsight and Photoshop.
Imaged and processed in Samphran, Thailand by the SC Observatory team: Mike Selby, Andy Chatman, Stefan Schmidt.