NGC 1291 (NGC 1269, PGC 12209, ESO 301-2 and others) is a ring galaxy located approximately 36.5 million light-years away in Eridanus. I captured this one while it was 15 – 17 degrees above the horizon.
Luminance – 12x600s – 120 minutes – binned 1x1
RGB – 8x300s – 40 minutes each – binned 2x2
240 minutes total exposure – 4 hours
Imaged on January 12th, 14th and 15th, 2021 from Dark Sky New Mexico at Rancho Hidalgo (Animas, New Mexico) with a SBIG ST-8300M on an Astro-Tech AT90EDT at f/6.7 603mm.
LRGB - https://www.flickr.com/photos/dcrowson/50936812468/sizes/l/
Check out Bernard Miller’s image with a lot more focal length where it was much higher in the sky from the southern hemisphere - http://www.azstarman.net/CDK/NGC1291.htm. Where’s the challenge in that?! His is APOD-worthy.