Triangulum Galaxy is a face-on, spiral galaxy belonging to our Local Group of galaxies, largest of which are the Milky Way and Andromeda. As such, it is one of the nearest galaxies to our own, at 2.73 million light years away and some 50 thousand light years across. Although relatively small and diffuse, M33‘s proximity makes it a prominent object in the night sky, visible by the naked eye from a dark location without light pollution. M33 is considered to be a satellite galaxy of the larger Andromeda. It was first discovered in the 17th century and then, independently, discovered and catalogued by Charles Messier.
Extensive zones rich with hydrogen gas (HII regions) can be observed on the galactic arms as small red patches, such as the very bright star forming region NGC 604, one of the largest known (observed) stellar nurseries (visible in the upper-right corner of the galaxy in the photo below).
Data and processing: Goran Petrov
License: Creative Commons BY NC (free for non-commercial use, with attribution).
Click on the image to view full size.
Location: Radibush, Rankovce, Macedonia
Dates: 2019-08-30 to 2019-08-31
Total integration time: 12 hours
Camera: ATIK One 9.0, cooled to -10C
Telescope: Takahashi FSQ 106 ED refractor
Filters:
L: 22 frames x 15 min
RGB: total of 30 frames x 10 min
Ha: 6 frames x 15 min
Processed in PixInsight.