imaged M88 (Halifax)

Messier 88 is another deep sky object that I viewed only once and somewhat briefly. So I wanted to have another look. Asked the Burke-Gaffney Observatory to image the galaxy in Coma Berenices.

Luminance only, 8 seconds subexposures, 20 stacked shots. FITS Liberator, GIMP. North is up; east is left. I was a little worried I underexposed this subject.

First viewed just over 5 years ago on 3 May '13. A lovely canted tightly-wound spiral with a bright core and grand arms. The middle portion of the disc seems markedly brighter than the outer limits.

That void to the east is weird. Zero stars.

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Wikipedia link: Messier 88.