M63 Sunflower Galaxy

The first clear night in 5 weeks. I was desperate to get out and roll back the roof. M63 was my target. A central disk surrounded by a wealth of short spiral arm segments. A cropped 30 x 2 minute guided exposures at Iso 800. I am not really happy with the image. Sky quality was not amazing. I was just glad it was clear. I think a revisit will be required soon!

The cosmic shiner

The last few nights has seen some lovely clear skies, despite light pollution from the local town of Watton approx 3 miles away and  a 30% illuminated moon. I thought I would have a go at M64 The Blackeye Galaxy


This cosmic punchbag of a galaxy has taken a recent pounding well about a billion years ago as experts believe, a small galaxy collision has left its mark. Messier added it to his collection despite it's discovery a year earlier. Resting a mere 24 million light years away. This is a combination of 1 hour 40 minutes of exposures @ ISO 1600. A final crop just show the bruise.