September 24, 2024

M88 & M91 – Spiral Galaxies in Virgo

M88 & N91 – Spiral Galaxies in Virgo

Telescope: Meade SN10 at f/4, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: QHY 168c, -10: Deepsky Default; Gain: 4, Offset 30

Filter: GSO IR Blocking

Guide scope: Williams Optics 50mm, ASI290MM Mini, PHD2

Exposure: 29x240sec saved as FITS

Darks: 32x240sec saved as FITS

Flats: 32×0.20sec, LED tracing tablet w/ 3 layers of muslin

Average Light Pollution: Red zone, poor transparency

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.4 mag/arc-sec^2

Stacking: Mean with a 2-sigma clip.

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Nebulosity, Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop

M88 (right) and M91 (left) are a relatively bright spiral galaxies in Virgo. M88 shows a classic spiral structure while M91 is a beautiful barred spiral. If you closely there are several galaxies scattered across this field. For example, NGC 4516 (Mv 13.5) lies to the upper left of M88, and tiny PGC 41978 (Mv 15.2) is to the lower left of M91. To the lower left of M88 is IC 3478 (Mv 14.4) and IC 3476 (Mv 12.8).

The Virgo Galaxy Cluster is currently well placed in the evening sky low in the east after sunset and rising high overhead by midnight.