This galaxy is somewhat unusual in that it just has a single spiral arm. Most spiral galaxies, like our own Milky Way, have two arms. A quick internet search showed that this is a very popular astrophotography target, but didn't turn up much beyond the facts that it spans about 100,000 light years and is approximately 41 million light years from earth. There are two other galaxies in this image. NGC 4712 is closes while NGC 4747 looks to me like it's hurling toward the others with just a hint of afterburner.
Photo Details
June 16 & 21, 2015
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
SBIG STF-8300C Camera
Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector
Skyglow filter
38 subframes at 3 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 1 hour 54 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop
This photo is really fun and it reminds me of watching a spinning top:)
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