SUNSET: 
0
Photographer:
Jon Greif
Location of Photo:
La Jolla, CA, USA
Date/Time of photo:
June 22, 2022, between 10 pm and midnight PDT
Equipment:
Takahashi FSQ-85ED with 1.01 Flattener, ZWO ASI533MC Pro imaging camera, Optolong L-Pro filter, ZWO 30 mm guide scope, ZWO ASI290MM mini guide camera, Rainbow Astro RST-135 mount, ZWO ASIAIR Plus controller and capture software, and Pixinsight 1.8.9 processing software on a Macbook Pro.
Description:
I started collecting data for this image more than a week ago, but cloudy nights have limited exposure time from our deck to just 100 minutes. Nonetheless, clearly visible in the center is the galaxy M106, and, no fewer than 6 additional small galaxies -- see the annotated copy (https://nova.astrometry.net/user_images/6072498#annotated) -- each NGC object is a galaxy). Messier 106 (also known as NGC 4258 and M106) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781. M106 is about 135,000 light years across and lies about 24 million light-years from Earth. M106 contains an active nucleus classified as a Type 2 Seyfert, and the presence of a central supermassive black hole has been demonstrated from radio-wavelength observations of the rotation of a disk of molecular gas orbiting within the inner light-year around the black hole.
