
Image of the Month
NGC-4244
NGC-4244 Edge-on spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici

NGC-4244 is an edge-on, loosely structured type Sc spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Canes Venatici near the yellowish second magnitude star Beta Canum Venaticorum. It is part of the M-94 galaxy group, and lies at a distance of 14 million light years from Earth. It is sometimes called the "Silver Needle Galaxy".
This image, acquired on May 14, 2012, is a 40 minute integration of 80 second 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.