When I first saw this galaxy through the eyepiece, it reminded me of an earth bound hurricane. From the middle latitudes of the Northern hemisphere the Sculptor Galaxy can be found low in the sky in early autumn. Otherwise known as C65 (Caldwell 65) the Sculptor Galaxy is one of the biggest, dustiest and brightest spiral galaxies known. Sculptor is relatively close at ten million light-years away, and is the largest member of the Sculptor Group of Galaxies, the nearest group to our own Local Group of galaxies. It can be seen with a good pair of binoculars. The dense dust present throughout the galaxy, and especially around the core, mean that there is a lot of star forming activity going on. Astronomers believe there are a number of intermediate size black holes developing around the central region. These are slowly migrating toward and will eventually combine with the massive black hole at the center.

10" F6.3 SCT telescope, Modified (sensor chip's filter removed) Canon 300D at Prime focus
 600 sec, ISO 800
 6 photos averaged together, then brightness and contrast enhanced