Spiral Galaxy NGC 2403 in Camelopardalis, Caldwell 7
Spiral Galaxy NGC 2403 is one of the largest and brightest galaxies that was overlooked by Charles Messier in his famous catalog. At a distance of 12 million light years in the faint constellation Camelopardalis (the giraffe), it lies in the same galaxy group as the better known M81 and M82 galaxies. The red areas are bright emission nebulae of glowing hydrogen, and the hazy blue areas are star clusters of young blue-white stars. Two bright round stars overly the 1:00 and 7:00 positions of the galaxy in this image, and are not part of NGC 2403, but instead are nearby stars within our own galaxy. NGC 2403 has more recently been designated Caldwell 7.
This image combined 4 hours of luminance unbinned, with 90 minutes each of red and green and 110 minutes of blue exposures, binned 2x2, for a total exposure time of almost 9 hours, obtained over 2 nights. An ST10XME camera was used through a Meade 12" LX200R and an AP reducer at the Hidden Lake Observatory.