Spiral Galaxy NGC 300

A bright but fuzzy local spiral galaxy, which at +8 magniude is well within the reach of small amateur telescopes like mine.

Some say it’s a member of the Sculptor Group, others say it isn’t. I wouldn’t know but at a distance of 6.6 million light years it’s a relatively close neighbour of ours.

This was a 70 minute exposure, taken on a recent field trip.

When I watch images of galaxies like this gradually building up on the screen of my laptop, I inevitably ponder the chances of there being any intelligent life over there. Maybe they’re training their own backyard telescopes back towards the Milky Way and asking the same question.

Maybe they’re just microbes.

We haven’t found any evidence of advanced civilisations here in the Milky Way yet – after several decades of an increasingly sophisticated radio search. If we can’t find them here then we’ll never detect life in another galaxy.

However, it’s always inspiring to look, speculate and dream.

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Object Details:

Designation:      NGC 300, Caldwell 70.
Constellation:    Sculptor.
Visual magnitude:  +7.9
Apparent size:         19′ x 13′
Diameter:  94,000 light years.
Distance:   6.6 million light years.
Altitude during exposure:  67° above Eastern horizon.
Astrometry.net

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That’s all, except for the technical stuff.

Image: Exposure:  73 x 58 sec =  70.5 min. Gain:   260 Date:   2019-09-24 Location:  semi-dark rural. Conditions:  clear. Moon: no.

Processing: Image acquisition:  SharpCap. Method: Live stacked. Darks: yes. Image post-processing:  GIMP. Cropping:   yes Sky:  0.29 e/pixel/sec .

Gear:

Telescope:	SkyWatcher Esprit	Type:	120ED triplet refractor
Focal:	840 mm F/7	Mount:	SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro
Camera:	ZWO ASI 071 MC Pro	Type:	CMOS 28.4mm 16 Mpx
Optical aids:	Flattener: Y; filter: LP	Guiding:	No
Polar aligning:	QHYCCD PoleMaster	Polar Error:	00’ 38”

Geek Log:

[ZWO ASI071MC Pro] Debayer Preview=On Pan=0 Tilt=0 Output Format=FITS files (*.fits) Binning=1 Capture Area=4944×3284 Colour Space=RAW16 Hardware Binning=Off Turbo USB=40 Flip=None Frame Rate Limit=1 every 4 seconds Gain=260 Exposure=58 Timestamp Frames=Off White Bal (B)=50 White Bal (R)=53 Brightness=40 Temperature=-19.8 Cooler Power=65 Target Temperature=-20 Cooler=On Auto Exp Max Gain=300 Auto Exp Max Exp M S=30000

Auto Exp Target Brightness=100 Mono Bin=Off Anti Dew Heater=Off Banding Threshold=35 Banding Suppression=0 Apply Flat=None Subtract Dark=C:\Users\Roger\Desktop\SharpCap Captures\darks\ZWO ASI071MC Pro\RAW16@4944×3284\58.0s\gain_250\dark_6_frames_-19.8C_2019-09-24T10_16_49.fits #Black Point Display Black Point=0 #MidTone Point Display MidTone Point=0.442857142857143 #White Point Display White Point=1 TimeStamp=2019-09-24T13:51:10.4331121Z SharpCapVersion=3.2.6086.0 TotalExposure(s)=4234 StackedFrames=73

Image © Roger Powell