M106 / ngc4258 in Canes Venatici
click the image for a 50% pixel view or HERE to return to the index page

M 106 is a Seyfert II galaxy about 22 million light years from us. The small galaxy to the upper right is ngc 4248. There are a lot of
faint fuzzies in the background, the faintest I see are around mag 18. It is thought, with data from Chandra, that there is a
massive black hole in the center of the galaxy that accounts for its warp... the image is cropped about 10 percent due to
my faulty flat frame that is causing the blue corners... noise is evident in the 50% view, needs more time..
 Telescope Meade LX 200 Classic 12 inch with 6.3 reducer operating at f/6.8
Camera Canon XT/350d modified with Baader type 1 filter by Hap Griffin
Exposure  40 three-minute and 8 five-minute sub-esposures at iso 1600
 Guiding  PHD Guide from Stark labs with Meade DSI pro I on Explore Scientific 80/480 apo triplet
 Software  Images acquired, calibrated, stacked and color corrected with Nebulosity 2.2.7 from Stark Labs. Further processing in Photoshop CS 3.
on-line links to more information    for more information try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_106

imaged in Julian, CA on May 8th, 2010. copyright chuck kimball