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Object Type: Spiral Galaxy (Sbp)
Constellation: Canes Venatici
Magnitude: 8.4
Size: 19' x 8'

M106 is located about 25 million light-years from our solar system. The smaller galaxy at lower right is magnitude 12.6 galaxy NGC 4248, and in the upper left is magnitude 15.1 galaxy UGC 7356. Close inspection of the image reveals a number of other small, faint galaxies in the background.

Equipment: Meade 14" LX200R/STL-11000M/Astrodon LRGB filters/Paramount ME
F-ratio: f/9.5
Exposures: LRGB:  L 8 x 5 minutes, binned 2x2: R 8 x 5 minutes: G 8 x 5 minutes: B 8 x 5 minutes: RGB binned 3x3
Date: March 16, 2007
Location: Landers, California, USA
Technical Notes: Individual exposures were dithered using CCDAutoPilot2 and then sigma combined. Contrast adjustments were made in Photoshop CS with Levels and Curves. The RGB images were combined in Registar 1.0. The luminance image was sharpened with a High Pass Filter using a Radius of 8 pixels, and selectively applied using a Layer Mask. The RGB image was duplicated and the resulting layer combined using Soft Light to enhance color. A Gaussian Blur of 1 pixel was applied to the dim portions of the luminance image and a Gaussian Blur of 2 pixels applied to the dim portions of the RGB image.