M106 - NGC 4258
Image Credit: Preston Starr and Donald Waid - Image Date: April 2019
Equipment: 10 in. RC Telescope - Apogee U8300 Camera - Paramount MX Mount
M106 - NGC 42581,2
M106 (NGC4258) is located in the constellation Canes Venatici and very close to the better known constellation of Ursa Major. The distance to the galaxy has been measured to be 23.6 million light-years from the Earth. M106 is intermediate between a "barred" spiral and a "normal" spiral galaxy. It is an active galaxy and shines brightly in the radio as well as the high energy portion of the spectrum. The active nature of M106 classifies it as a Seyfert galaxy. As with all large galaxies, a super massive black hole likely lies at its center and is the probable source of the high-energy radiation. Two "red streamers" of ionized hydrogen are extending from the core of the galaxy. The streamers are evident in Hydrogen Alpha filtered data. These H-Alpha features are similar to the red streamers associated with the active galaxy M82. The small galaxy in the upper right of the image is designated NGC4248 and is a possible companion galaxy to M106.
1
http://www.messier.seds.org/m/m106.html
2
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150216.html
M106 (NGC4258) is located in the constellation Canes Venatici and very close to the better known constellation of Ursa Major. The distance to the galaxy has been measured to be 23.6 million light-years from the Earth. M106 is intermediate between a "barred" spiral and a "normal" spiral galaxy. It is an active galaxy and shines brightly in the radio as well as the high energy portion of the spectrum. The active nature of M106 classifies it as a Seyfert galaxy. As with all large galaxies, a super massive black hole likely lies at its center and is the probable source of the high-energy radiation. Two "red streamers" of ionized hydrogen are extending from the core of the galaxy. The streamers are evident in Hydrogen Alpha filtered data. These H-Alpha features are similar to the red streamers associated with the active galaxy M82. The small galaxy in the upper right of the image is designated NGC4248 and is a possible companion galaxy to M106.
1
http://www.messier.seds.org/m/m106.html
2
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150216.html