Messier 74 (HaLRGB)

Messier 74 is a face-on spiral galaxy in Pisces. It’s around 30 million light years away. This galaxy is has a relatively small apparent size (like most galaxies) of about 10 arc minutes.

In this image the spiral arms are clearly visible along with the bands of nebulosity along those arms. You can also see the arms are bluer (having hotter, younger stars) and the core is redder, tending to have older, cooler stars.

This is 37 hours of HaLRGB data. You can find the technical details at astrobin.

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