Ravenshead Observatory


Dates & Location	March 25th - 19th June 2012 using the SMAP site at Weed, New Mexico. Elevation 7269 ft. Lat 32.8°N Long 195.5W	Catalogue identification	NGC 4214, Herschel H95-1.
Equipment Used	Officina Stellare RC400 at 3278mm focal length, F8.2. Paramount ME German equatorial Mount. Camera SBIG ST-11000M with FW-8L filter wheel. AstroDon MMOAG with SBIG Remote Guide Head. Optec Pyxis 3" Rotator. TheSky V6 telescope control. CCDSoft V 5.0 camera control. ScopeDome remote observatory.	Where it is in space	It lies around 10 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici, the Hunting Dogs. Visually, it is approx 8.25° WSW of Cor Caroli - the brightest star in Canes Venatici, which itself is below the tail of Ursa Major. In this image North is at the 10 O'clock position.
Acquisition	Remote session using RADMIN PC control from Ravenshead, UK. Ha LRGB exposures:- 340: 240:165:165:165 mins total using 20 min Ha and Lum, 15 min RGB sub-exposures. All images binned 1x1. AllC	What it is	Dwarf galaxy NGC 4214 may be small, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in content. It is packed with hot young star-forming regions and old clusters with red supergiants. A huge heart-shaped cavity — possibly the galaxy’s most eye-catching feature — can be seen at the center of the image. Inside this hole lies a large cluster of massive young stars ranging in temperature from 10,000° to 50,000° Celsius. Their strong stellar winds are responsible for the creation of this hollow area. The resulting lack of gas prevents any further star formation from occurring in this region. l.
Processing Methods	Image acquisition and telescope control with CCDSoft V5. Remote acquisition sequence program CCDAutoPilot.
	Data reduction and Luminence De-convolution and master RGB colour image prepared with CCDStack.
	Master RGB image and Master Lum Images finished with Photoshop CS2. Final LRGB image created using PhotoShop CS2

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