Messier 74 (also known as NGC 628 and Phantom Galaxy) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces. It is at a distance of about 32 million light-years away from Earth. The galaxy contains two clearly defined spiral arms and is therefore used as an archetypal example of a grand design spiral galaxy. The galaxy's low surface brightness makes it the most difficult Messier object for amateur astronomers to observe. However, the relatively large angular size of the galaxy and the galaxy's face-on orientation make it an ideal object for professional astronomers who want to study spiral arm structure and spiral density waves. It is estimated that M74 is home to about 100 billion stars. M74 was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 then communicated his discovery to Charles Messier, who listed the galaxy in his catalog.
The above images is made up of 28 subframes 5 minutes each (2 1/2 hours) stacked and processed in AstroArt 7 and tweaked using Photoshop 5. The subframes were captured using a AT6RC scope mounted on an AP900 mount with a Starlight Express SXVR-M25C. The AP900 was autoguided using a Meade DSI Pro camera and an 80mm f7 refractor scope. The image data was captured while at Rusty's RV Ranch near Rodeo, AZ in October of 2020.
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