M106 = NGC4258 ( 12h 19.0m +47°18´, 8.3 mag. )

This large spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici was discovered by Mechain in July 1781. It is located over 22 million ly away. Its bright spiral arms extend into a lot fainter outer envelope which seems to be distorted by nearby companion galaxy (that envelope is not usually visible on photographs). M106 can be spotted in binoculars almost exactly halfway between b Canum Venaticorum and g Ursae Majoris (see finder chart below for starhop from the former).

The above image was taken on April 11, 1999 from Sooke, BC using Cookbook 245 LDC CCD camera on Ultima 8 f3.0 telescope, autoguided with Cookbook 211 LDC CCD camera on a piggybacked 500mm f8 telephoto lens. It is composed of white exposures (8 x 240 sec.) as well as cyan, magenta and yellow-filtered integrations (4 x 240 sec. each) combined with AIP4WIN. Color image was then adjusted in Lab color space using Corel PhotoPaint 8.

Two additional galaxies are visible in the same field: NGC4248 near the lower right corner and UGC7356 near the upper left one. North is to the right.

The image below is a combination of color-filtered exposures from April 11, 1999 (above) with luminance layer constructed (using AIP4WIN) from ten unfiltered integrations (240 sec. each) acquired on March 28, 1998 from Sooke, BC. Cookbook 145 LDC camera was used on Ultima 8 f6.3 telescope, autoguided with Cookbook 211 LDC CCD camera on a piggybacked 500mm f8 telephoto lens. Color image was adjusted in Lab color space using Corel PhotoPaint 8.

North is to the right.

Map created in Guide 7.0 - 7°45' x 7°45'. North is up.

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© Jan Wisniewski