M33 is a spiral galaxy also much like our own Milky Way and is in the constellation of Triangulum. At a distance of about 2.5 Million light years from Earth, it is our second nearest neighboring major galaxy and is also part of our local group of galaxies. The bluish color of this galaxy is due to the large number of young, hot stars in its arms.

Image capture and processing information:

Date/Location: August 06, 2005 Lake Sonoma, Sonoma County, California
Instrument: Canon 6.1 Megapixel 300D Digital Rebel SLR through a modified Orion ED100 refractor using a Celestron .63 Focal Reducer piggybacked on a Celestron CM-1100 Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector
Focal Ratio: Approximately f6.0 Guiding: Manually guided through the Celestron CM-1100
Conditions: Visually clear but hazy
Weather: 70 F, slight breeze
Exposure: 15 minutes @ ISO 1600 (3 x 5 min exposures)
Processing: Focused and captured with DSLRFocus. Images stacked and processed using RegiStax 2.1 and Microsoft Photo Editor