Observation Notes:
This was the 2nd of 2 galaxies I observed the night of an observing trip out to Wupatki National Monument, north of Flagstaff. It was a large diffuse galaxy. The core was on the verge of being stellar, but I don't think I had enough aperture to make it out. It seemed to be elongated west to east and had a slightly mottled appearance.
Factoids:
M74 is a spiral galaxy that is 30 to 40 million light years away and is receding at 793 km/sec. It is roughly 95,000 light years in diameter, which is about the same size as our Milky Way Galaxy. The beautifully symetrical arms of M74 are salted with clusters of young blue stars, and pink emission nebulae. It was found by Pierre Méchain in September 1780. He reported the discovery to Charlse Messier who included it in his catalog in October 1780.
| Subject | M74/NGC 628 |
| Classification | Spiral Galaxy |
| Position | Pisces [RA: 1:36.7 / Dec: +15:47]* |
| Size* | 10.2' x 9.5' |
| Brightness* | 9.4 |
| Date/Time | 10/9/04 - 1:30 AM |
| Observing Loc. | Wupatki National Monument, AZ |
| Instrument | Orion SVP 6LT Reflector (150 mm dia./1200 mm F/L) |
| Eyepieces/Mag. | 32 mm (47X) |
| Seeing | 4/10 |
| Transparency | Mag 5.5 |
* Based on published data.
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