Instrument

Celestron C11 @  ~f/10.48 (2930 mm fl) 1.27 arcsec / pixel, resampled to 1.91 arcsec / pixel.

Mount

Paramount ME

Camera

SBIG STL-11000 w/ internal filter wheel, AstroDon Filters

Acquisition Data

3/7/2008 to 4/4/2008  Chino Valley... with CCDAutoPilot3

Exposure

Lum    360 min.  (36 x 10 bin 2x2)
RGB    240 min.  (8 x 10 bin 3x3) each

Software

CCDSoft, Sigma-Clip, Photoshop CS w/ the Fits Liberator plugin, Paint Shop Pro, and Noel Carboni's actions

Comment

North is to the top.
Spiral galaxy M94 has a ring of newly formed stars surrounding its nucleus, giving it not only an unusual appearance but also a strong interior glow. A leading hypothesis holds that an elongated knot of stars known as a bar rotates in M94 and has generated a burst of star formation in the form of an outward moving ring. M94 spans about 30,000 light years, lies about 15 million light years away, and can be seen with a small telescope toward the constellation of Canes Venatici.

Source: NASA APOD