The Pinwheel Galaxy - Messier 33
Camera: Starlight Xpress SXVF-H16 with FLI CFW-2-7 Filter Wheel
Mount: Losmandy G-11/Gemini
Scope: Astro-Physics Starfire AP130 EDF
Colors: L:R:G:B
Exposure Time: 120:60:60:60 minutes
Post-Production: MaxIm DL, CCDStack, PixInsight, and Photoshop CS3
This is another image from my recent trip to Kanab, Utah. The conditions were very nice for imaging, and the hospitality at Vermillion Cliffs Observatory (Jerry and Cindy Foote) was as good as it gets! :) This incredible spiral galaxy is a mid-sized member of our Local Group of Galaxies. M33 is also called the Triangulum Galaxy for the constellation in which it resides. About four times smaller (in radius) than our Milky Way Galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), it is much larger than the many of the local dwarf spheroidal galaxies. M33's proximity to M31 causes it to be thought by some to be a satellite galaxy of this more massive galaxy. M33's proximity to our Milky Way Galaxy causes it to appear more than twice the angular size of the Full Moon, and be visible with a good pair of binoculars. (Some text from APOD)