Sliced Onion Galaxy (NGC 3344) in Leo Minor

NGC 3344 is the largest and bright­est galaxy in the Little Lion at a dis­tance of 20 mil­lion light-years. It is a stun­ning open sys­tem seen only 23° from face-on, mem­ber of the Leo Spur of galax­ies. NGC 3344 is an SAB­bc-type galaxy, clas­si­fied between barred (SB) and unbarred (SA) with a very bright nuc­le­us (bc). The galaxy’s disk is scat­terd by a remark­able num­ber of HII regions.

In Octo­ber 2012, a super­nova was dis­covered in the galaxy’s disk, nearly south of the cen­ter, which is known as SN 2012fh.

An image taken by Capella Obser­vat­ory (www.capella-observatory.com) before the appear­ance of SN 2012fh can be found here.

Details

Tele­scope:
RCOS 20″ f/8.5
Mount:
Para­mount ME
Cam­era:
Apo­gee U16M
Fil­ters:
Astro­don Gen2
Expos­ure:
LRGB 800:300:300:320 min.
Loc­a­tion:
Sierra Remote, California
Author:
© Mar­tin Ruster­holz, Astrophotographer

Find­er Chart Sliced Onion Galaxy (NGC 3344)

NGC 3344 Galaxy Sky Chart Astrophotography 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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