Messier 106 is a spiral galaxy lying 22 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. It is a Seyfert galaxy with an active nucleus emitting radio waves and X-rays due to presence of a supermassive black hole actively consuming matter within its core. Violent churning of spiral arms, dust clouds, and sprays of ionized hydrogen can be seen revolving around the nucleus. The the irregular galaxy to its lower left is UGC7356 which lies at a similar distance and the edge on spiral galaxy to its lower right is NGC 4248 which lies 24 million light-years away. Other faint, distant galaxies can be seen scattered around the image.
Image Data:
Telescope/Mount: Celestron Compustar C14 with Starizona LF reducer/corrector (f/7.5).
Camera: SBIG STL 11000M with Baader Planetarium L,R,G,B filters.
Adaptive Optics: SBIG AO-L at 2 Hz.
Location:Pommier Observatory, Portland, OR, USA
Dates:2020-04-10 through 2020-04-19
Exposures: L:R:G:B=330:135:130:140 minutes = 12 hours, 15 minutes total exposure.
See additional astrophotographs at www.rodpommier.com