NGC-3109 is a small, irregular spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Hydra. Although its actual size is relatively small, because of its distance of only 4 million light years it appears relatively large in the sky, with an angular size of 19 by 4 minutes of arc. It contains only 230 million stars, and has relatively low surface brightness.
This image, acquired on March 14, 2013, is a 32 minute integration of 4 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.