Object Information                                            Imaging Details

M74 is a beautiful face-on spiral galaxy in Pisces. It has earned the name, 'The Phantom', because it has low surface brightness making it challenging to visualize through a telescope.

I took my Stellarview 115mm triplet over to Leasburg Dam SP for a quick evening of imaging. I've really enjoyed the image quality of the 115 - much sharper than my ED80 doublet.

LDSP isn't the darkest sky - roughly Bortle 3, but it's plenty dark enough for this target. Also - I'd bought a state park pass that year and wanted to use it.

When stacking the images, I noticed a streak in the lower LH corner. If you click the (cropped) image above you can easily see the streak. I asked an asteroid hunter friend of mind and he said he thought it was 195 Eurycleia. That was later confirmed using some astronomy software. The streak represents about two hours of travel by the asteroid.

Telescope:

Stellarvue 115 fluorite triplet