ASTROPIXELSEATONS HILL OBSERVATORY
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FROM THE OBSERVATORY · 23-Nov-2023

Cosmic Island Galaxy NGC 210

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Cosmic Island Galaxy NGC 210
NGC 210 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Cetus, situated roughly 70 million light-years from Earth. In this photograph, the galaxy's grand design is evident, with its pronounced spiral arms and central bulge standing out amidst a sea of stars. The spiral arms, speckled with regions of star formation, trace out from the bright core, while dark lanes of interstellar dust crisscross the galaxy, adding depth and contrast to the scene.
BEHIND THE IMAGE

Notes from the session

Captured against the deep black of space, NGC 210 appears as a solitary cosmic whirlpool, its structure highlighting the processes of galactic evolution. The surrounding field is sprinkled with other distant galaxies and stars, but NGC 210 commands the focus, a testament to the galaxy's inherent beauty and the captivating nature of astrophotography.

Image:
66x 300s Luminance
22x 300s Red
17x 300s Green
35x 300s Blue


Total integration 11 hours 40 minutes. Focal length: 2800mm

Hardware:
Celestron 11" EdgeHD
Skywatcher EQ8 Pro mount
QSI 683-ws8 Camera @ -15°C
Astrodon LRGB Gen2 E-Series Tru-Balance filters
Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2 Autoguider
Starlight Xpress Large Format Active Optics
Innovations Foresight ONAG
Starlight Instruments Feather Touch Focuser



Location:
Exposed over 5 nights between 4th September to 16th September 2021
Orange zone in Brisbane, Australia. (Bortle 7)



Software:
Planning & camera alignment with Aladin 10
Captured with TheSkyX Professional
Guiding with PHD2
PixInsight: Calibrate, align, integrate, dynamic background extraction, LRGB combination, noise reduction, spectrographic photometric color calibration, HDR multiscale transform, histogram, curves, crop.