| Description | This is a very challenging galaxy to observe properly. Thought to be a Seyfert Galaxy with an Active Galactic Nucleus (i.e. a supermassive black hole), the nucleus is very bright. The arms, which are graceful and nearly fill the FOV of my not-so-large sensor, are quite dim. So the 45m I captured here, assisted by some post processing, are probably the minimum you can get away with and still capture the arms' full extent. The inverted view shows off the arms to some advantage. This galaxy was a another discovery by William Herschel, on May 1, 1785, though he undoubtedly could see only the nucleus. |
