Date: 5/26/2010
Target: M63 - Sunflower Galaxy in Canes Venatici
Telescope: Orion 8" @ f/10
Camera: ST-8300M
Filter: Lum
Exposures: 26x300s (130 min)
Framing: North is Down
Sensor Temp: -10C
Location: Mocksville, NC
Seeing: 3/5
Transparency: 3/5
FWHM: 2.98
Start Time: 9:30PM
End Time: 1:00AM
Captured with Nebulosity, stacked using DeepSkyStacker, processed in Photoshop.

Anacortes Picture of the Day, June 15, 2012

From Wikipedia.org:
The Sunflower Galaxy (also known as Messier 63, M63, or NGC 5055) is an Spiral galaxy in the Canes Venatici constellation. It is a Spiral galaxy, consisting of a central disc surrounded by many short spiral arm segments. The Sunflower Galaxy is part of the M51 Group, a group of galaxies that also includes the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51).