Date: 3/8/2010
Target: M106 - Galaxy in Canes Venatici
Telescope: Orion 8" f/4.9 w/Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector
Camera: Canon 40D (modified)
Filter: None
Exposures: 44x300s (3.7h) @ ISO800
Framing: North is up, 80% Crop
Start Temp: 36F
End Temp: 32F
Location: Mocksville, NC
Seeing: 3/5
Transparency: 4/5
Guiding (RMS/Osc): 0.18/30
Start Time: 9:00PM
End Time: 2:00AM
Captured with Nebulosity, stacked using DeepSkyStacker using selective 2x drizzle, processed in Photoshop.

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day March 13, 2010

Winner - Cloudy Nights Beginner DSO Challenge March 2010

From Wikipedia.org:

Messier 106 (also known as NGC 4258) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781. M106 is at a distance of about 22 to 25 million light-years away from Earth. It is also a Seyfert II galaxy, which means that due to x-rays and unusual emission lines detected, it is suspected that part of the galaxy is falling into a supermassive black hole in the center. NGC 4217 is a possible companion galaxy of Messier 106.