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Object Type: Spiral galaxy (Sc)
Constellation: Sculptor
Magnitude: 7.1
Size: 25' x 7'

NGC 253 is one of the largest and brightest galaxies in the sky, and is the brightest member of the Sculptor group of galaxies and is 10 million light-years from our solar system. It is an impressive sight in a telescope of almost any size; visually it is remarkable for the amount of dust within its disk. NGC 253 is commonly known as the Silver Dollar or Silver Coin Galaxy, and also as the Sculptor Galaxy.

Equipment: Meade 14" LX200R/STL-11000M/Astrodon LRGB filters/Paramount ME
F-ratio: f/9.5
Exposures: LRGB:  L 8 x 5 minutes, binned 2x2: R 8 x 5 minutes: G 8 x 5 minutes: B 8 x 5 minutes: RGB binned 3x3
Date: November 11 and 14, 2006
Location: Landers, California, USA
Technical Notes: Individual exposures were obtained using CCDAutoPilot2 and then sigma combined. The RGB image was created in Registar 1.0. A high-pass filter was applied to the galaxy portion of the image. Gaussian Blur of 1 pixel was applied to the RGB image. A duplicate of the RGB image was combined using Soft Light to increase color saturation.