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Messier 74 is one “grand design spiral galaxy”. Its clearly well defined two spiral arms are an excellent tool for researchers to study their dynamics as well as its density waves. It is considered to be one of the most difficult Messier object to visually watch, because of its very low surface brightness (only M101 has a lower surface brightness). This galaxy is located at 30 million light years in the constellation Pisces. Having a mass about one tenth of our Milky Way, its central black hole is, correspondingly, less massive (about 10,000 solar masses).
Additional Information
Object
Name(s): Messier 74. M74. NGC 628. The Phantom Galaxy
Type: Spiral Galaxy Type SA(s)c
RA: 01h 36m 41s
Dec: +15º 46’ 53”
Constellation: Pisces
Size (arcmin): 10.5×10 arcmin
Magnitude: +10.0
Distance: 30 Million ly
Image
Date: 2020-08-20 to 2020-09-15
Location: Curiosity2 Observatory, New Mexico Skies, Mayhill, NM, USA
Size (arcmin): 29×24 arcmin
Telescope: 24” (61 cm) f/6.5 Reflector
Camera: FLI PL16803 (4096x4096pix)
Guiding: Astrodon MonsterMOAG off-axis guider
Total exposure: 20 hours (L: 11h 20m; RGB 8h 45m)
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CC 2020