Object Information:

 

NGC 253
Mag. - 7.1
Constellation - Sculptor
Distance -  11 million light years,
Size - 40,000 light years across

 

This bright galaxy is the brightest member of the Sculptor group of galaxies which is thought to be the closest galaxy group to our own Local Group. 

 

NGC 253 was first described by Caroline Herschel on September 23, 1783. 

  Imaged at: 

 

Mt. Laguna, Cleveland National Forest, San Diego County, California;
Elevation - 5,400 feet

  Equipment:  

 

Optics -   Takahashi MT-200 8 inch classical Newtonian reflector at f/4.8,
Mount - Astro Physics 1200 GTO,
Camera - Santa Barbara Instrument Group (SBIG) ST-2000 CCD,
Filter - SBIG CFW-8 with CRGB filters

  Exposure Information:

 

August 27, 2005
LRGB image - A combination six 8 minute exposures for the luminance frame and three 8 minute exposures each for the RGB channels.  

  Camera Control Software:

 

CCD Soft Ver. 5

  Image Processing Software:

 

Image calibration - MIRA AP 7; Final processing - Photoshop CS