M105
Galaxy in Leo
About
An elliptical galaxy in Leo, about 37 million light-years away, with a central black hole of roughly 140 to 200 million solar masses. It and the lenticular NGC 3384 sit inside a neutral-hydrogen ring about 650,000 light-years in radius, and it belongs to the M96 Group.
Imaging tips
- About 4′ across, so it is too small to frame: use a long focal length and a fine pixel scale.
- A wide frame can hold M105, NGC 3384, M95 and M96 together: one such RGB image used 9 × 10 min per channel, about 4.5 hours.
- Another image of M105 with NGC 3384 and NGC 3389 used 5-minute subs (3 L, 6 R, 4 G, 5 B), processed from RGB alone after technical problems.
- Best around February and March.
Facts
- Size
- 4′ × 4′
- Magnitude
- 9.8
- Coordinates
- RA 10h 47.8m, Dec +12° 35′
- Framing, APS-C
- longer than 4000 mm
- Framing, full frame
- longer than 4000 mm
- Best months
- Feb, Mar
- Peak altitude
- 53° from 50°N, 68° from 35°N