The Sunflower Galaxy - M 63 - Two Hours of Integration vs One shot

 

This beautiful galaxy is known as Messier 63 or M63, also known as NGC 5055 or sometimes called the Sunflower Galaxy. It is a spiral galaxy in the northern constellation of Canes Venatici (south of the handle of the Big Dipper's handle) with approximately 400 billion stars!

I imaged it last night (April 1st, no foolin' !) taking 30 - 4 minute exposures for a total time of 2 hours of integration. I used a Meade LX200GPS 8" telescope with a .65 focal reducer, an ultra high contrast filter and a modded Canon T3i camera.

Notice the dark dust lanes the block a lot of the light from the lower part of the galaxy. The pink areas are regions of star formation.

So what does it look like when one only takes ONE image, instead of stacking 2 hours worth of 4 minute exposures?