M-33 (NGC-598) is a face-on type SA(c) galaxy located in the constellation Triangulum. It lies 2.7 million light years from Earth, is 60,000 light years in diameter, and contains over 40 billion stars. Commonly called "The Pinwheel Galaxy", it is a member of the local group of galaxies and lies at a distance of 3 million light years from Earth. After M-31, it is the closest galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy. Visible in this image are a number of reddish Hydrogen II regions, which are similar to our own M-42, the Orion Nebula. The largest of these can be seen just above and slightly to the left of the nucleus of M-33.
This image, acquired on September 22, 2014, is a 1 hour integration of 6 minute exposures through the Celestron C-11 at f/2 using the HyperStar III imaging system and the Starlight Express SXVR-H694C color CCD camera, operating at -10 degrees below ambient temperature and binned 1 X 1. Guided, captured and combined using Maxim DL5 Pro. Post processed using PhotoShop CS2, Gradient
XTerminator, StarShrink, Carboni's Astro Tools and NoiseWare.