Date Posted: 4/2/2025
Date Taken: Three consecutive nights, 3/11 thru 3/13/2024
Scope: Planewave CDK 12.5 f/8, 2541mm
Camera: SBIG STL-11000 with Astrodon Tru-Balance E-Series Gen2 filters
Temp: -15C
Mount: Losmandy Titan
Guiding: On-axis via ONAG-XM and SX UltraStar at 2541mm. FocusLock real-time focus for focusing.
Exposure: LRGB, 420:140:120:130. Luminance 15min unbinned; RGB 5min binned 2x2.

Calibrated and Stacked with CCDStack2; RGB combine and DDP with MaximDL. Processed with CS4.

NGC 5394/95, a.k.a the Heron Galaxy, is a pair of interacting galaxies located in Canes Venatici. NGC 5395 is the larger spiral galaxy at the bottom, and NGC 5394 is the smaller barred spiral that represents the Heron's head. Both galaxies clearly show distortions due to their interaction. The pair appears small due to their distance (about 175 million light years) which also leads to their low apparent magnitudes of 12.48 for NGC 5295 and 13.7 for NGC 5394. The pair is also catalogued as Arp 84.