Date Posted: 3/6/2024
Date Taken (RGB): Three nights, 2/5 - 2/7 2024
Scope: Planewave CDK 12.5 f/8, 2541mm
Camera: SBIG STL-11000 with Astrodon Tru-Balance E-Series Gen2 filters
Temp: -25C
Mount: Losmandy Titan
Guiding: On-axis via ONAG-XM and SX UltraStar at 2541mm. FocusLock real-time focus for focusing.
Exposure: LRGB 390:120:125:120 Luminance 15min unbinned; RGB 5min binned 2x2.

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

Messier 109 is a facing barred spiral galaxy in Ursa Major. At 67 million light years away, it is considered to the most distant object in Messier's famed list, although various estimates range from 50-90 million years. It has an estimated diameter of 180,000 light years, making it considerably larger than the Milky Way (100,000 light years).

This was a challenge to process, as there was considerable glow/glare from the bright star Phecda just off the lower right corner of the image. It caused a massive gradient in all channels, which was particularly noisy in the color channels. It is cropped a bit more than I typically do, and the galaxy is shifted off-center to cut down on the gradient.