This is a framing of the bright Messier spiral galaxy M106 at top, with a number of its companions and nearby galaxies in Canes Venatici. The edge-on spiral to the right of M106 is NGC 4217; the elongated spiral at upper right is NGC 4096; the edge-on spiral right of centre is NGC 4144; the more face-on spiral at bottom is NGC 4242. Many other NGC and PGC galaxies down to 15th magnitude dot the field. The location of the galaxies of interest leant themselves to a classic Rule of Thirds composition with M106 at the intersection of the upper horizontal and vertical third lines. This is a stack of 15 x 6-minute exposures with the Astro-Tech 90CFT apo refractor with its 0.8x Reducer for f/4.8 and 480mm focal length, and the filter-modified Canon R camera at ISO 800. No filter was employed here. Autoguided with the MGENIII autoguider. A starless layer created by RC-Astro StarXTerminator plug-in that contained just the galaxies helped to bring out the galaxies separate from the stars in processing. Plus I applied a Detail Extractor action in Nik Collection 6 Color EFX. Shot from home May 12, 2023 as part of testing the 90CFT scope.
The large and bright galaxy Messier (M) 106, in Canes Venatici in the northern spring sky. This is a fine example of a spiral galaxy accompanied by many companion galaxies in the galaxy-ruch northern spring sky. At left is the edge-on galaxy NGC 4346; at top right is another edge-on NGC 4220; while at lower right is yet another edge-on NGC 4217 amid a nice field of colourful stars. The galaxy just to the right of M106 is NGC 4248. The faintest galaxies here are about 15th magnitude. This is a stack of 20 x 6-minute exposures at ISO 1600 with the Canon EOS Ra through the Astro-Physics 130mm EDT apo refractor at f/6 with the 6x7 field flattener. Starizona's Galaxy Enhance action applied overall to the image. Taken from home April 14/15, 2021. Slight high haze added some star glows.
A telephoto lens image of the spiral galaxy Messier 106 in Canes Venatici. This is shot to simulate the field of view of binoculars for illustration purposes. The red star, La Superba or Y CVn, is at far left. Below M106 is the companion galaxy NGC 4217. This is a stack of 6 x 1-minute exposures with the 200mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 800, tracked but unguided on the Mach 1 mount, on April 28, 2019.
