Observation by David Davies: Messier 90

Uploaded by

David Davies

Observer

David Davies

Observed

2021 Apr 12 - 23:48

Uploaded

2021 Apr 19 - 09:57

Objects

IC3583
Arp 86

Planetarium overlay

Enable overlay
Show stars
Label stars
Show deep sky objects
Label deep sky objects
Show constellation boundaries
Show constellation sticks
Show constellation labels
Show RA/Dec grid

Constellation

Virgo

Field centre

RA: 12^h36^m
Dec: +13°09'
Position angle: +0°27'

Field size

0°24' × 0°18'

Equipment

8-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope
QSI 683 camera with Astrodon filters
Lodestar guide camera
Skywatcher EQ8 mount

Exposure

25 x 5-min luminance; 15 x 5-min each RGB

Location

Cambridge, UK

Target name

NGC 4569, Messier 90

Title

Messier 90

About this image

There are some six Messier objects within my reach from my back garden that I have not yet observed, and one of them is M90 in Virgo. I have been capturing data on M90 these past two or three weeks but have been beset by technical issues, hazy skies and satellite trails. Finally, I have sufficient data to produce an image but have probably thrown away as much data as I have used.

NGC 4569, M90, was discovered by Charles Messier on 18th March 1781, along with several other galaxies, as he searched for an object first discovered by Mechain that subsequently became catalogued as M85. It was also observed by John Herschel in 1830 who noted its bright nucleus.

M90 is in the direction of the Virgo cluster but is a foreground galaxy around 30 million light-years away, less than half the distance to the Virgo cluster. It has a bright core and just to the northwest of the core is a 12th Magnitude foreground star which you can see in this image. To the north of M90 you can see its companion, IC 3583, a much smaller and deformed galaxy that is interacting with M90. This interacting pair is also classified as Arp 86.

Files associated with this observation

M90.jpg (1.0 MB)

Like this image

Martin Lewis, Nik Szymanek, Callum Potter, Nick Hewitt, Peter Goodhew FRAS, Mr John William Hughes, Callum Wingrove, Rob Januszewski, Martina McGovern

Copyright of all images and other observations submitted to the BAA remains with the owner of the work. Reproduction of work by third parties is expressly forbidden without the consent of the copyright holder. By submitting images to this online gallery, you grant the BAA permission to reproduce them in any of our publications.

Registered charity no. 210769
Registered company no. 117572

For more information including contact details, click here.

Our Terms of Use are here.

Our Privacy Policy is here.