NGC 4216 in Virgo

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Scope: C8  f/4.8, 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 an image of a lesser known galaxy triplet in the constellation of Virgo. The center galaxy is NGC 4216, the upper left is NGC 4222, the lower right is NGC 4206. Their magnitudes are 10.9, 13.9, and  12.0 respectively. There are a number of other galaxies in this field as well -  four can be seen in this image. This area of the sky is close to the optical center of the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. Its distance to Earth is estimated to be 40 million light years Horizontal. FOV is 32'

Image center is approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 12h 15m 54s Dec: +13°08'52"

All images and content remain the property of Jim Thommes - copyright 2003 - 2012

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