This year's spring feels unusually cold, even though it's already the end of April. Even on sunny days the air is still chilly, and at night the cold becomes almost unbearable.
It reminded me of the spring of 2020 — just as cold, but with many clear, starry nights and some really productive astrophotography sessions. Back then, I captured a number of galaxy images using a Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope. Today I’d like to share one of them — the very popular galaxy NGC 4565, which I still consider one of my best works.
NGC 4565, also known as Caldwell 38 or the Needle Galaxy, is an edge-on spiral galaxy located in the constellation Coma Berenices. It lies about 40 million light-years away and spans roughly 140,000 light-years in diameter. The galaxy was discovered in 1785 by William Herschel.
I captured this image in March–April 2020 from my balcony under Bortle 7 skies.
Equipment:
- Sky-Watcher MAK180 Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope with Celestron 0.63x focal reducer (effective focal length 1700mm, f/9.45) + ZWO ASI174MM monochrome camera
- Astro-Tech AT6IN Newtonian reflector (600mm, f/4) + QHY178C color camera
- QHY mini guide scope + QHY5L-II guide camera
- Celestron CG5-GT equatorial mount
Exposure:
- Luminance: MAK180 + ASI174MM — 416 frames (30–90s), ~5 hours total
- Color: AT6IN + QHY178C — 105 frames (60–120s), ~3.5 hours total
Besides those very cold nights, I also remember the quiet mornings that followed — sitting with a glass of Bushmills 10 Single Malt Irish whiskey, listening to the Celtic Collection by Adrian von Ziegler. After a freezing night session, that combination of warmth and music felt like the perfect ending.
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