Astrophotographer Ronald Brecher has captured a beautiful view of the ‘Sunflower Galaxy’ (Messier 63) of his rear patio observatory near the city of Guelph in southwest Ontario, Canada.
Brecher’s deep sky portrait reveals incredible details in the arms of the spiral galaxy, whose pattern and structure have a surprising resemblance with the head of a cosmic sunflower. M63 can be seen shining with the radiation expelled by a multitude of white giant white stars and newborns, the light of what traveled for about 27 million light years to reach the earth, according to NASA.
“The bad weather has made the images a bit challenging,” Brecher told Space.com in an email. “I could get more than 13 hours in M63 despite the clouds and the moon.”
M63 seems to be formed from many fragmented arms arranged around its bright nucleus, in opposition to the well -defined structures that characterize the spiral galaxies of ‘Grand Design’ such as NGC 3631 or the Bode Galaxy.
Brecher took images of the Sunflower Galaxy as the Moon progressed towards its first phase quarter on April 17 to 28 using Celestron 14 “Edge Hd Telescope in conjunction with a monochromatic 15. A host of a host of a host of a host of a host of a host of a host of a host of a host of a host of a host of a host of an amphitrepa of an amphitrepa of an amphitrepa of an amphitrepa of an amphitrepa of an amphitrepa of an amphitrepa of an amphitrepa of an amphitrepa of Anfitrepta.
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It can be the best month to see the sunflower galaxy, which will be visible as a slight spot of light in narrower telescopes in good visualization. One way to locate the sky patch containing M63 is to find the bright stars arcturus, in the constellation and dubhe boots, which forms the dumping tip of the pan in the ‘Big Dipper’ asterism. The sunflower galaxy can be found halfway between the two. Use a Stargazing application if you need help to find the stars.
Interested in capturing the majesty of the night sky for you? If so, be sure to consult our guides to see the best binocular and telescope offers, along with the best cameras and astrophotography lenses.
Editor’s note: If you are interested in sharing your astrophotography with the readers of Space.comSend your photos, comments and name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
