Galaxy of the Whale and Hockey Stick in SW 1025 f5

The Whale and the Hockey Stick Galaxies
I’m pleased to share the first light image from my travel achromat 102/500 F5. For nearly three years, it has accompanied me on road trips and flights, delivering excellent views of galaxies and nebulae from various locations—deep-sky performance has been flawless. Still, I decided to try imaging galaxy C32, which I observed a month earlier on April 10, 2023, through a 350mm binocular together with this little 102/500 in a blue zone, alongside fellow hobbyists.

At the lower left is NGC 4631, known as the Whale Galaxy. Just above it floats the small galaxy NGC 4627, partly responsible for distorting the Whale’s shape. In the upper right is NGC 4656, the Hockey Stick Galaxy, which is also warped by the smaller galaxy NGC 4657, located right at the tip of the “blade” of the hockey stick. All these galaxies lie at roughly the same distance, about 25 million light-years away.

Equipment and capture details:
Achromat 102/500 F5, Stellamira 0.8× reducer/flattener → F4, ZWO 533MC, ZWO UV/IR Cut 2″, EQ6 mount, 8×50 QHY5L-II-M guide scope.
35×240 s, -10 °C, gain 105, offset 10.
Suburban Kazan, 15 km from city center, orange light-pollution zone, ambient +9 °C.
Calibration: 10 darks, 50 flats, 50 biases.
Sun at -15°, already bright nights. Captured on May 11, 2023.
Total integration: 2 h 20 min.