Messier 106
=========

That galaxy has four arms — but two of them aren't made of stars.

M106 in Canes Venatici is a Seyfert galaxy with an active nucleus powerful enough to drive jets of hot gas out of its own disk. The glowing blue structures flanking the spiral are shock-heated plasma, not star-forming regions. Also in the frame: the edge-on NGC 4217, the gravitationally entangled pair NGC 4231/4232, and a handful of fainter background galaxies.

Scope: Askar 103APO
Lens: Askar 1.0x Flattener
Camera: ZWO ASI 294MC Pro
Filter: Svbony UV/IR-Cut
Mount: SkyWatcher AZ-EQ5-GT
Guiding: SkyWatcher Evoguide 50ED with ZWO ASI 224MC
Controller: ZWO ASIAir Pro
Focusser: ZWO EAF

Integration time: 7hrs 25min

Full version and print available at:
https://adfr.io/astro/20260317_m106

#Astrophotography #M106 #NGC4258 #NGC4217 #DeepSky #DeepSkyObject #GalaxyPhotography #Galaxies #Astrophoto #ChasingPhotons #Nightsky #SpacePhotography

Last month me and my grandpa both went after M106 and both images look awesome. Lots of small details can be seen in the bright core of Leonard's image, and a surprising amount of detail can be seen when you crop into my widefield image, even of the smaller, nearby galaxies. This was a fun galaxy to shoot, and many more are coming very soon!

104x240s lights (6.93 hours), darks, flats, and biases stacked in Deep Sky Stacker, and edited with Siril and GraXpert.
----
Image 1:
🌌 M106
🔭 Celestron EdgeHD 8" (Scope), Celestron CGEM-II (Mount)
📸 ZWO 294MC Pro (Main), ZWO 224MC Color (Guide)
📅 Jefferson, WI (Bortle 5)

Image 2:
🌌 M106
🔭 Celestron Astromaster 114 (Scope), SkyWatcher GTi (Mount)
📸 Canon Rebel T4i (Main), ZWO 120MC Mini (Guide)
📅 Bloomington, MN (Bortle 8)
----
#m106 #ngc4258 #galaxy #bloomington #bloomingtonmn #minnesota #jefferson #jeffersonwi #wisconsin #newtonian #schmidtcassegrain #edgehd8 #edgehd #celestron #skywatcher #graxpert #nina #siril