MSO 003 - M33 - The Triangulum Galaxy

Tom Shankapotomous
Oct 3, 2025
2 min read

MSO 003- Field Report

Object: M33 – The Triangulum Galaxy

Location: Devine, Texas (≈40 miles south of San Antonio)

Date: November 23, 2025

Observer: Shank Gym Observatory

Instrument: ZWO Seestar S50

Processing: No post-processing beyond minor GIMP color correction. This is essentially an unstacked/raw-style field capture.

Cross Referecne Tags: MSO 003, EXP 001

1. Overview

M33, the Triangulum Galaxy, is the third-largest galaxy in the Local Group—smaller than Andromeda but larger than the Milky Way’s dwarf companions. At ~2.7 million light-years away, it is one of the closest major spiral galaxies to our own, and an exceptional target for wide-field smart telescopes thanks to its surface brightness and sprawling arms.

This field report documents an unstacked Seestar S50 capture taken during a field session in Devine, Texas, a region with mixed Bortle conditions but surprisingly clear southern access and stable sky at ground level. Because the frame uses only minor GIMP color balancing—with no stacking, noise reduction, or sharpening—the image reflects the true “live” output of the S50 in a field environment.

2. Acquisition Details

Equipment

Optical System: ZWO Seestar S50 smart telescope
Mount: Integrated alt-az
Filters: Built-in dual-band
Camera: Integrated CMOS
Control: Seestar app (iOS)

Site Conditions

Location: Devine, Texas
Bortle: ~4–5 transition zone depending on direction
Seeing: Moderate
Transparency: Good for fall conditions
Ambient Conditions: Rural, low horizon obstruction, mild thermal turbulence

Capture Notes

Exposure: Unstacked single-frame capture

Processing:

Only minor GIMP color correction (white balance & slight saturation normalization)
No stacking
No de-noising
No sharpening
No gradient removal
This preserves the authenticity and field-report integrity of the SGO dataset.

3. Scientific Context

M33 is a flocculent spiral, meaning its arms are patchy and irregular rather than grand-design spirals like M51. Its disk contains thousands of star-forming knots, including NGC 604, one of the largest stellar nurseries in the entire Local Group—visible even in short exposures as a bright knot on the northeastern limb.

With no aggressive post-processing, the structure visible here—particularly the diffuse arms—is entirely a function of sky quality, telescope capability, and raw sensor sensitivity.

This makes the image scientifically valuable for ongoing SGO program because:

It serves as a reference baseline for later AP (AstroPixelProcessor) and Siril stacking experiments.
It provides natural-color representation for later multi-night data accumulation.
It captures the true surface brightness challenge of M33 for small-aperture systems.

4. Field Impressions

Even with limited processing, the Seestar cuts through the Texas rural sky and reveals:

The faint outer spiral arms
Central star cloud and diffuse core texture
Multiple HII regions scattered along the arms
A dense star-field foreground typical of the Milky Way’s fall sky
The noise grain is expected in unstacked captures. For SGO archival purposes, this is preferred: a faithful record of what the system sees in the field environment.

5. Recommendations for Follow-Up Expeditions

Stacked Re-Observation:

Capture 30–60 minutes of data and process via Siril or APP to reveal NGC 604 and arm contrast.

Dual-Night Integration:

M33 excels under multi-night integration; use SGO protocol for cataloging FITS.

Compare Transparency Profiles:

Perform one capture from Devine and one from Jourdanton or Massanutten for sky-quality contrast.

Document Atmospheric Variability:

Use this unstacked capture as the “control image” for sky-condition comparison across future outings.