C65
Galaxy in Sculptor
About
The Sculptor Galaxy, NGC 253, a starburst spiral about 11.4 million light-years away and the brightest member of the Sculptor Group. Caroline Herschel found it in 1783 while hunting for comets.
Imaging tips
- About 27′ long and 5′ wide, it fits at 900–1,510 mm on APS-C with room to spare.
- Faint at 22.5 mag/arcsec², so it needs a lot of data: published images run from about 11.6 hours of RGB plus Hα and OIII to 23.5 hours of L, Hα and RGB.
- It stays below 15° altitude from 50°N and is best around September and October. One report took 20 two-minute frames with a full-frame camera from a Bortle 8 yard.
- The Sculptor Group's other bright spiral, NGC 247, lies about 4.5° away, in a wider field.
Facts
- Size
- 26.8′ × 4.6′
- Magnitude
- 8.6
- Coordinates
- RA 0h 47.6m, Dec −25° 17′
- Framing, APS-C
- 900–1510 mm
- Framing, full frame
- 1390–2310 mm
- Best months
- Sep, Oct
- Peak altitude
- 15° from 50°N, 30° from 35°N