09/10/2026
🌌 The Triangulum Galaxy — M33
Three nights.
One galaxy.
Nearly 13½ hours of integration.
This is my latest capture of Messier 33, the Triangulum Galaxy.
M33 is one of those targets that rewards patience.
Its faint spiral structure is spread across a huge area of sky.
That makes bringing out the outer arms and dust lanes a real challenge.
✨ What's Hiding Inside M33?
M33 is about 2.88 million light-years away.
It is the third-largest member of our Local Group, behind Andromeda and the Milky Way.
And there is something especially interesting in this image.
Those small pink regions scattered through the spiral arms are star-forming H II regions.
One of the most famous is NGC 604.
It is one of the largest H II regions in the Local Group.
At M33's distance, it spans roughly 1,520 light-years.
So those tiny patches of pink aren't just color.
They are enormous stellar nurseries inside another galaxy.
That is what makes this image so rewarding.
I'm looking at light that began its journey almost 3 million years ago.
==== Imaging Data ====
Target: Triangulum Galaxy — M 33
Dates: 9/6/2026, 9/7/2026, 9/8/2026
Scope / OTA:
Celestron C6 SCT Schmidt Cassegrain
945 mm focal length
f/6.3
Celestron 0.63× Corrector-Reducer
Insulation Wrapped
Mount:
Vixen Great Polaris GEM Mount
SkyWatcher SynScan EQ5 Pro Go-To Kit Equipped
Camera:
ZWO ASI294MC with DIY Cooling Mod
Baader CMOS-Optimized UV/IR Cut 1.25"
Guiding:
SVBony SV165 Guidescope
ZWO ASI120MM-Mini Guide Camera
Broadband Data:
180-second exposures
Gain 270
269 Light Frames
50 Dark Frames
99 Flat Frames
99 Dark-Flat Frames
Camera Sensor Temperature: 13.0°C
Capture Area: 4144 × 2822
Colour Space: RGB24
Output: FITS
Total Light Frames: 269
Integration Time: 13h 27m
Processing:
Adobe Photoshop
StarNet++
Siril
GraXpert
ASTAP
DeepSkyStacker
AstroWizard
Acquisition:
SharpCap
Cartes du Ciel
Stellarium
PHD2
ASCOM
EQMOD
NINA