NGC 3718, also called Arp 214, is a galaxy located approximately 52 million light years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. It is either a lenticular or spiral galaxy. NGC 3718 has a warped, s-shape. This may be due to gravitational interaction between it and NGC 3729, another spiral galaxy located 150,000 light-years away. NGC 3718 is a member of the Ursa Major Cluster.[Source: Wikipedia].

A careful look reveals a surprising number of galaxies both near and far toward the constellation Ursa Major. The most striking is this NGC 3718, the warped spiral galaxy near center left. NGC 3718's spiral arms look twisted and extended, mottled with young blue star clusters. Drawn out dust lanes obscure its yellowish central regions. A mere 150 thousand light-years to the right is another large spiral galaxy, NGC 3729. The two are likely interacting gravitationally, accounting for the peculiar appearance of NGC 3718. While this galaxy pair lies about 52 million light-years away, the remarkable Hickson Group 56 can also be seen clustered above NGC 3718, near the top of the frame. Hickson Group 56 consists of five interacting galaxies and lies over 400 million light-years away. [Source: APOD].

CAPTURE Information:

The image was captured with the iOptron CEM120 mount , the venerable Meade 12"LX200 SCT, and my Atik 383L+ mono CCD at F7.16 (2182mm FL). Image subs were taken through Astronomik's filters Lum, R, G and B.

All subs were done at 1x1 bin, -10C, at 10 minutes each.

IMAGE information -- 2020

Lum (600s): 35 subs (5.83hr) on May 19th, 26th and 27th.

Red (600s): 27 subs (4.50hr) on May 5th, 6th , 17th and 18th.

Green(600s): 27 subs (4.50hr) on May 6th , 17th and 18th.

Blue (600s): 27 subs (4.50hr) on May 14th , 17th and 18th.

Processing was done with PixInsight, following (for the most part) kayronjm's tutorial of Feb. 24th from several years back. Only L was used to develop the Luminance image. R, G and B were collected for the color mix.

North is up (pretty sure), and this is a slight crop due to the various movement of different subs.

COMMENTS:

I had chased this object previously, once in 2015 and again in 2018. The 2015 image was done with the vintage 12”LX200 fork mount and turned out OK. The 2018 was done with the Celestron CGE Pro, but was never finished. I don’t think I was pleased with the results.