NGC 2403

Spiral Galaxy in the Constellation Camelopardalis

NGC 2403 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis.  NGC 2403 is an outlying member of the M81 Group, and is approximately 8 million light-years distant. It bears a striking similarity to M33, being about 50,000 light years in diameter and containing numerous star-forming H II regions (the pinkish-red regions in the image).  This galaxy has also had a history of at least two supernovae explosions within it, and also has the distinction of being the first galaxy beyond our local group within which a Cepheid variable star was discovered.

Image Information  Courtesy of Wikipedia and SEDS

Image Details:

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  • Instrument:  Planewave Instruments CDK 12.5 with Astro-Physics AP27TVPH focal reducer @ f/6.3 (1997mm)
  • Mount:  AP1200GTOCP3
  • Image Scale:  1.20 arc-seconds per pixel after processing
    Camera: SBIG ST-2000XM with AO8 Adaptive Optics and CFW10 Color Filter Wheel using Custom Scientific LRGB filters 
    Filters & Exposure Times:
    • L:  32 x 5 minutes binned 1 x 1
    • R:  26 x 5 minutes binned 2 x 2
      G:  36 x 5 minutes binned 2 x 2
      B:  18 x 5 minutes binned 2 x 2
    • Multiple Luminance Layering in Photoshop (technique as described by Rob Gendler)
    • Total equivalent unbinned exposure time of 16 hours
    Software: Maxim DL/CCD, CCDStack, Adobe Photoshop CS2, RC Astro Gradient X-Terminator
    Location:  C.A.A.S. East Observatory, Little Rock, AR., El. 650ft
    Date: January 30th, 2012

Wade Van Arsdale
Little Rock, AR., USA
February 26th, 2012