M106, Spiral Galaxy in Canes Venatici

This multiframe, mosaic, wide-field image of M106 was created as an experiment in using the Hubble Legacy Archive as a clearing house for Hubble Space Telescope data of the galaxy. WFC3, ACS, and WFPC2 Hubble data of the nucleus and inner spiral arms were combined with ground-based red-green-blue images of M106 taken by astrophotographers Robert Gendler and Jay GaBany. Their 12.5-inch and 20-inch telescopes are located at very dark, remote sites in New Mexico. The Hubble Legacy Archive provides public access to Hubble data. Gendler processed the Hubble and ground-based images into this stunning view of the galaxy. The image is also being released at Gendler's astro imaging website at: http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/M106-HST.html .

About the colours

This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by various Hubble instruments and ground-based telescopes. Several filters were used to sample various wavelengths/frequencies. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: ACS/WFC F435W (G) Green: WFC3/UVIS F555W (V) + ACS/WFC F555W (V) + ACS/WFC F606W (V) Red: Ground-based 656nm (H-alpha) + WFPC2 F656N (H-alpha) + ACS/WFC F814W (I) + WFC3/UVIS F814W (I) Luminosity: ACS/WFC F814W (I)

About the data

Note: Ground-based image data provided by R. Gendler and J. GaBany was used to fill in or supplement areas where HST data did not exist or was limited.

The image was created from Hubble data from proposal 11570 : A. Riess (STScI) and collaborators. Other ACS and WFPC2 datasets from various other proposals were used to augment this proposal's data.