Date: 4/18/2010
Target: M63 - Sunflower Galaxy in Canes Venatici
Telescope: Orion 8" f/4.9 w/Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector
Camera: Canon 40D (modified)
Filter: None
Exposures: 55x300s (3.6h) @ ISO1600
Framing: North is Up, 50% Crop
Start Temp: 43F
End Temp: 26F
Location: Mocksville, NC
Seeing: 4/5
Transparency: 2/5
Guiding (RMS/Osc): 0.21/0.36
FWHM: 3.8"
Start Time: 10:00PM
End Time: 5:40AM
Captured with Nebulosity, stacked using DeepSkyStacker, processed in Photoshop.

Anacortes Wild Bird and Telescope Picture of the Day, April 22, 2010

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).