M 96 Galaxy

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About this Image

The close-up on M96 shows a barred spiral of type SB(r)b. It is the brightest member of the M96 group of galaxies, with a visual magnitude of 9.2. This object is located about 38 million light years from Earth and has a diameter of around 100,000 light years. Visually it has a bright inner disk composed of old yellow stars surrounded by blue knots of young stars. It is inclined about 35 degrees to our line of sight, which gives it a slightly elongated appearance.
To the north east a background edge-on galaxy with a central dust lane is shining through M 96.

Find more information about the Leo I group here.
North is up.

Find the wide field image of M 95, M 96 and the M 105 group here.

 


Technical Details
Optics

16" cassegrain in secondary focus at f/10 for L files
color used from f/3 image

Mount MK-100 GEM
Camera SBIG STL-11000M at -30C, internal filter wheel
Filters Astronomik LRGB
Date Mar 20, 2006
Location Wildon/Austria
Sky Conditions mag 5 sky, good seeing, temperature -2 C
Exposure L = 150 minutes (10-minute sub-exposures);
Processing Image aquisition and calibration in Maxim 4.11, DDP in ImagesPlus; color balance, curves, color blending in Photoshop; Noise reduction with Neatimage