Terence Galuszka Astrophotography

NGC 253 was discovered by Caroline Herschel on on September 23 1783 and is the brightest member of the Sculptor group of galaxies, which is grouped around the South galactic pole and includes NGC 277, NGC 55, NGC300. The Sculptor group are part of a much larger local group of galaxies that are gravitational bound together. NGC 253 the nearest to our Local Group of galaxies and one of the brightest, and sometime referred to as the silver dollar. It was one of the major discoveries by Caroline Herschel, sister of William Herschel.

Members of the Sculptor Group include:
ESO 407-18, ESO 471-06, NGC 7793, ESO 293-35, ESO 349-31, NGC 45, NGC 55, NGC 59, Scl-dE1, ESO 294-10, IC 1574, NGC 247
NGC 253, ESO 540-30, ESO 540-31, ESO 540-32, NGC 300 , NGC 625, ESO 245-05 

This test image of NGC 253 using the hyperstar for the first time on July 24 2009. As you can see the focus was out, but not too surprising since obtaining focus at F2 is about 30 microns, half a human hair. The standard focuser on a C11 just isn't up to the job and has now been replaced with a Feathertouch. Also the telescope wasn't polar aligned. Just set down on the driveway.
 
Visual observation of the NGC 253 is easy under dark skies with good contrast and can normally be seen directly overhead from Wellington, New Zealand using a mid size telescope. The red circles on the location and the table details information about the galaxy.

The chart shows the location of NGC 253 and the table lists the brightest in that area, and the galaxy type for NGC 253. m is the apparent visual magnitude for stars and surface magnitude for Galaxies.

 Technical Details

 Date

July 24 2009

 Location

Brooklyn, Wellington New Zealand

 Optics

Celestron C11 OTA @ F2 Hyperstar

 Mount

Celestron CGE

 Camera

Orion Deepspace Color Imager II

 Filters

N/A

 Exposure

5x 60sec exposures stacked.

 Acquisition

NexRemote

 Processing

MaxIm DL EE and Photoshop CS3