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Scope: C8 f/7.5, Location: Dos Picos Park, Ramona, CA, 11 April, 2008 Camera: Artemis285
Exposure: 10 x 5 minutes Luminance exposures with IR block (1x1 bin), 7 x 2.5 minutes RGB exposures (2x2 bin).
Processing: Images were captured Artemis Capture (as FITs). Aligned/stacked and dark subtracted in Astroart with Sigma Combine. Luminance and Color channels were scaled and rough color balanced in Astroart. Central gradient removal performed in Astroart. Channels were co-registered in Astroart. The 5 minute IR block exposures were used for the main luminance construction with level adjustments and curves to bring out object features. LRGB combine was done in Photoshop. G2V factors applied to color channels. Selective sharpening (with mask) was used to enhance galaxy features. A light noise reduction was applied with PixInsight LE SGBNR. Final touches were done in Photoshop. Final Image size is approximately 1392x1040
North is up in this image. This is M99, a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Coma Beremices. It is also a member of the large Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. It is somewhat asymmetric and not much to account for the asymmetry other than speculation on gravitational encounters with other cluster member galaxies. Its distance from Earth is about 60 million light years. Horizontal FOV is 20'
Image center is approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 12h 18m 49s Dec: +14°25'07"