Triangulum
M33 / NGC 598
Triangulum is the smallest spiral galaxy in the Local Group (us, Andromeda, the Magellanic Clouds and a few more neighbours). It is thought to be satellite galaxy of Andromeda as they are moving towards us together. In 4 billion years all three galaxies might merge into one big elliptical galaxy!
See if you can find NGC604 in the annotated image! This is the largest star formation area in the entire Local Group. Nowhere in our own galaxy or in Andromeda is there such a huge stellar nursery.
Technical details
| Telescope | Skywatcher Esprit 100ED (f/5.5) |
| Filter | Astrodon LRGB Gen2 E-Series |
| Field flattener | Skywatcher Esprit (1x) |
| Camera | QHYCCD 268m, -15°C, Mode 1, Gain 56, Offset 30 |
| Resolution | 6085x3976 (cropped, 2x drizzled integration) |
| Light frames | L: 48 (300s), 4h total |
| R: 16 (300s), 1h20m total | |
| G: 16 (300s), 1h20m total | |
| B: 16 (300s), 1h20m total | |
| 8h total | |
| Flat frames | 16 each (3s, per channel brightess) |
| Darkflat frames | 32 |
| Dark frames | 8 |
| Bias frames | - |
| Location | Kalkalpen Nationalpark, Austria |
| Local time | 2022-10-16 20:49 - 01:14 (41 frames) |
| 2022-10-17 20:12 - 01:42 (55 frames) | |
| Image center | 1h33m51s +30°39'27" |
| Field of view | 2°21’ x 1°32’ (rotation -73°) |