By Jett Peters
The Most Versatile Galaxy Season Targets
Galaxy season is coming up, and it brings with it some of our favorite targets. A few of these are beloved by many, but some that are a little less imaged are equally worth considering. Galaxy season is best taken advantage of with a long focal length telescope, but many of these targets can shine at shorter focal lengths as well given interesting background detail or the potential to capture multiple galaxies in one frame.
The first option here is an old favorite, Bodes and the Cigar galaxy. These galaxies are imaged often for good reason and are the most versatile galaxy season targets. M82 (Cigar) is a starburst galaxy. This refers to a galaxy that is forming stars at a very high rate. Starburst galaxies have large amounts of HA, and in the case of M82 they extend in jets out the top and bottom of the disk of the galaxy. Because of the presence of HA, this galaxy can be shot for a long time under high moon illumination. When the moon is down, lots of luminance is a must. M81, and M82 hang in dense wisps of IFN, and bringing these out to a high extent will set your image apart. This IFM makes this target look good at both wide focal lengths as well as narrow ones.
Image Credit: Brian Puhl
Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/full/g8y3u7/0/
Our next galaxy is M94 or the Croc’s Eye Galaxy located in Canes Venatici. This is a very unique galaxy due to its dust ring outside the main spiral. The galaxy is classified as a barred spiral galaxy, but this dust ring sets it apart. This is a medium sized galaxy, but still can be well resolved by a wide field telescope. There is HA at the core, but it will take some time to bring out.
Image Credit: Brian Puhl
Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/full/oqwcin/0/
Next up is M106; this is a favorite of many, and for good reason. The hydrogen in the galaxy is very interesting as it seems to shoot out from the core. This is another target that you will want to shoot in HA for an extended time in order to uncover this structure. M106 is classified as an intermediate spiral galaxy located in the constellation Canes Venatici. M106 is flanked by NGC 4217 which is another spiral but this time edge on. In fact M106 is in a cluster of smaller galaxies, so images of the region look good at moderate to long focal lengths.
Image Credit: Brian Puhl
Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/full/sqsnbp/0/
The last target I’d like to showcase is M63 or the Sunflower galaxy. Yet again this is a spiral in Canes Venatici. The Sunflower target is also set apart by its unique structure. This galaxy has an outer shell encircling the main structure. M63 is relatively small but as seen in the image below it can be effectively imaged to a high level with a 100 mm refractor. There are not a lot of background details in this field however, so it may be best to stick to larger focal lengths.
Image Credit: Brian Puhl
Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/full/4i2ha9/0/