Arguably the toughest galaxy I have imaged yet, the Cocoon Galaxy lies some 30 million light-years away in the constellation of Canes Venatici.

This galaxy forms an interacting pair with the smaller irregular galaxy NGC 4485. This system is similar that of the Magellanic Clouds and is surrounded by an enormous hydrogen cloud.

The extreme tidal forces of their interaction have determined the shapes and properties of the two galaxies.

Once a barred spiral galaxy, similar to the Milky Way, the Cocoon Galaxy’s outlying regions have been stretched out, resulting in its nickname of the Cocoon Galaxy. Virtually no trace of its past spiral structure can be seen from our perspective.

OTA: William Optics FLT 132 Triplet Refractor with Flat7A 0.8x Reducer/Flattener
Mount: Celestron CGX-L
Camera: ZWO ASI2400MC Pro
Gain: 158
Cooling Temperature: -10 degrees celsius

Filter: Optolong LPro Filter

Night 1 = 41 x 300s
Night 2 = 40 x 300s
Night 3 = 40 x 300s
Total = 140x x 300s = 11.6 hours

Auto-guiding: ZWO ASI174MM Mini and ZWO M48 OAG-L
Control: ZWO ASIAIR Pro

Calibrated in Astro Pixel Processor with darks and flats
Processed in Pixinsight and Lightroom.
Star refraction spikes added using 1mm clear string in front of objective lens.

Location: Bortle Class 4 skies near downtown Flagstaff, Arizona

Copyright: Drew Evans