NGC 3953 in Ursa Major
NGC 3953 belongs to the Ursa Major Cluster of galaxies, some 50 million light-years distant. The apparent diameter of this bared spiral galaxy measures 6.0x3.2 arc min, which coresponds to about 90’000 light-years in reality.
The Ursa Major Cluster consists of at least 79 members according to various papers. Beside the low-surface galaxy UGC 6840/PGC 37164 visible in the upper left part of this image, NGC 4051 and NGC 3729 are additional bright members of this cluster.
[description from O’Meara]
Details
Telescope:
RCOS 14.5″ f/8
Mount:
ASA DDM85
Camera:
Apogee U16M
Filters:
Astrodon Gen2
Exposure:
LRGB 440:180:180:180 min.
Location:
ROSA Remote Observatories Southern Alps
Author:
© Martin Rusterholz, Astrophotographer
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. 