NGC2903 is located about 30 million light years away. Though it is spring time object it was discovered on November 16, 1784, by (no surprise here) William Herschel. To him, the object seemed double, and in fact he observed both galaxy core and a stellar knot in one of galaxy’s spiral arms. This knot is now cataloged as NGC2905. NGC2903 spiral galaxy escaped the eye of Charles Messier and it was not cataloged in his list, though it is visible in binoculars from dark-sky locations.
NGC2903 spiral galaxy is similar to our Milky Way, but it is about two times smaller. It is barred spiral galaxy. NGC2903 is also one of the brightest galaxies in the northern hemisphere – but often forgotten. It has prominent spiral arms that contains both old and young star clusters. Second image below contains luminance channel only, but the bar across galaxy core is visible. It is even more obvious at color RGB images.
I captured data to this images in two parts. Luminance at the beginning of April. And then RGB filter subframes three weeks later. Seeing was only moderate during these nights, so overall detail level is not impressive. This magnificent galaxy deserves much better conditions.
Large version color: https://astrojolo.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2019-04-21-N2903-4.jpg
Large version mono: https://astrojolo.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/N2903L_DBE_Lfin.jpg
Clear skies!
Image technical data:
Date: 31.03, 01.04, 21.04.2019
Location: Nieborowice, Poland
Telescope: Meade ACF 10"
Corrector: AP CCDT67
Camera: QHY163M, gain 100
Mount: SW EQ6
Guiding: SW 80/400 + ASI290MM
Exposure: LRGB 290:40:30:30x60 seconds
Conditions: suburban sky, seeing moderate, transparency good