NGC3521

(Click on the picture above to go to the main image.)

I found this object somewhat by accident. I was reviewing the Uranometria charts of the area I expected to be working in that evening's imaging (looking for groupings/clusters of galaxies that might be worthwhile targets), and noticed a galaxy that was larger than 5 arcminutes. This told me that it might be a good object, and I simply added it to my list for the upcoming evening. When I took the picture, the galaxy initially showed up as a reasonably large elliptical blob. I then saved it for later processing.

"Later" turned out to be four months. I am still working through all the pictures I took on my trip to New Mexico, and finally got to this one. It is defintely one of my better pictures. Unlike many of my images, this one had almost no focusing, tracking, or vibration problems. As a result, post-processing was very successful. The image has striking three-dimensional textures. The only thing missing from the picture is the large extended halo around the galaxy. This is mostly invisible due to my having chosen a palette that brought out the details in the spiral arms.

I took this picture in New Mexico.

Constellation	Leo
Right Asc (hh:mm:ss)	11:05:48
Declination(deg:sec)	00:02
Magnitude	8.9
Size (ArcMin)	9.5
Tirion SkyAtlas 2000	#13
Uranometria 2000	#236