C7 Galaxy

Caldwell 7 (NGC 2403)

Spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis. Caldwell 7 is very close to the border of Ursa Major (The Plough). It is an outlying member of the M81/M82 group despite being 13.5 degrees away in the sky. Caldwell 7 reminds me of M33, a spiral in our local galaxy group.

Never heard of the constellation Camelopardalis? Neither had I. Rather surprisingly, this constellation is the 'Giraffe' and not a camel despite the name! Why have you never seen it? Well, it's brightest star is only magnitude 4.03.

The processing is just the rough stack. Still needs processing in PixInsight.

Friday 4th March 2011

Started Setting up at about 8:30pm

Started Imaging at 10:00pm

Finished (packed up) 2:00am

Filter: Clear

Exposure: 300sec

Pos Angle +182° 30', FL 1191.6 mm, 1.175"/Pixel

Telescope to East of pier, looking west of meridian

Camera to 'N' Mark (guide chip to south)

Focus position (no filter) Pos = 3408, 1/2 Flux Dia. = 3.65

Start temp -1.25, increased to 0, finished at -2.0

Limiting mag 4.2 (Ursa Minor)

Camera -20C, 40% cooling

Started taking flats - telescope was dewed up - flat max value was 20000 instead of 40000

However, the heat from the light panel got rid of the dew - deleted the poor flats.