NGC 4567
NGC 4568
The "Twins"
NGC 4568
The "Twins"
| NGC 4567 and NGC 4568 Interacting Galaxies in Virgo Colloquially known as "The Twins" or "The Butterfly Galaxies", this pair of spiral galaxies is approximately 116 million light years from Earth in the Virgo cluster of galaxies. The large elliptical galaxy NGC 4564, the small spiral galaxy PGC 42079 and the faint dwarf galaxy PGC 42075 are visible, along with numerous smaller galaxies. Date: April 19-May 20, 2007 Camera: SBIG STL6303E Filters: AstroDon LRGB Camera control software: CCDSoft Guiding/adaptive optics: AO-L with Astrodon MOAG-A off axis guider/SBIG remote guide head Camera temperature: -20C Image Acquisition Software: CCDAP3 Telescope: RCOS 16 Carbon Tube, Aries optics, F9 with Field Flattener Telescope control software: RCOS TCC, TheSky6 Mount: Paramount ME (MKS 4000) Subexposures: Total exposure time: 1,090 minutes Luminance: 49 x 10 minute, binned 1x1 (best 49 of 67 total Luminance exposures selected) RGB: 21 x10 minute Red, 20 x 10 minute Green, 19 x 10 minute Blue, binned 2x2 Conditions: Seeing conditions over 4 nights averaged 2-2.5 arc sec; target elevation from 46 degrees to 65 degrees. Altitude of observing site: 720 feet. FWHM of combined Luminance data: 2.2 arc sec raw, 1.65 arc sec deconvolved. Processing: CCDSoft, Sigma, CCDInspector, MaximDL, MiraAP, CCDSharp, Photoshop CS3. |