M-96 (NGC-3368) is a Type SAB Barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Leo the lion. It lies at a distance of approximately 31 million light years from Earth and is almost 100,000 light years in diameter. It was discovered by Messier's assistant Pierre Mechain in March of 1781, and added to Messier's catalog as number 96 two days later.
This image, acquired on March 1, 2017 is a 1 hour integration of 6 minute exposures through the Celestron C-11 at f/2, using the HyperStar III imaging system and the Starlight Express SXVR-H694C color CCD camera, operating at -10 degrees below ambient temperature and binned 1 X 1. Guided, captured and combined using Maxim DL5 Pro. Post processed using PhotoShop CS2, Gradient XTerminator, StarShrink, Carboni's Astro Tools and NoiseWare.