M63 Sun­flower Galaxy in Canes Venatici

Messi­er 63 or M63, also known as NGC 5055 or the sel­dom-used Sun­flower Galaxy, is a spir­al galaxy in the north­ern con­stel­la­tion of Canes Ven­at­ici with approx­im­ately 400 bil­lion stars. M63 was first dis­covered by the French astro­nomer Pierre Méchain, then later veri­fied by his col­league Charles Messi­er on June 14, 1779. The galaxy became lis­ted as object 63 in the Messi­er Cata­logue. In the mid-19th cen­tury, Anglo-Irish astro­nomer Lord Rosse iden­ti­fied spir­al struc­tures with­in the galaxy, mak­ing this one of the first galax­ies in which such struc­ture was identified.

[descrip­tion from wikipedia]

Details

Tele­scope:
Taka­hashi FSQ-106EDX III
Mount:
ASA DDM85
Cam­era:
QHY600M-PH
Fil­ters:
Astro­don Gen2
Expos­ure:
LRGB 390:150:150:130 min.
Loc­a­tion:
ROSA Remote Obser­vat­or­ies South­ern Alps
Author:
© Mar­tin Ruster­holz, Astrophotographer

Find­er Chart M63 Sun­flower Galaxy in Canes Venatici

M63 Galaxy in Canes Venatici Sky Chart strophotography Martin Rusterholz

Image cre­ated by Skychart

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About Me

Hello, my name is Martin Rusterholz. I’m a Swiss amateur astrophotographer living near Zurich, the biggest town in Switzerland. My interest in astronomy started when I was 16. At that time, I built my first Newtonian telescope and mount. I studied physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) which was the only study including at least some aspects of astronomy and astrophysics. “Looking at the nights sky is an experience touching everybody deeply inside, something common to all human beings independent to the language spoken by the individuals”. Deep-sky astrophotography is my passion.

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Perseus (1)