NGC 6744 The Pavo Galaxy

NGC 6744 is a striking spiral galaxy located approximately 30 million light-years away in the constellation Pavo. Often considered a close counterpart to the Milky Way, it exhibits a similar structure with well-defined spiral arms and a bright central bulge. NGC 6744 spans about 200,000 light-years in diameter, making it one of the larger galaxies in its vicinity.

Photographed in July 2024 using a 0.7 reducer on my Edge HD Telescope, with a monochrome camera using LRGB Filters, HA data kindly donated by Niall MacNeill.