Description: - aka “Winnecke 4”. An optical double star, meaning that they are not a true pair of stars as one is further away from us than the other. The left one is an F8 type star and the right one is a G0 type star. Classed as a mistake by Charles Messier as he was looking for a reported nebula in the region but instead only found these two so he noted them.

Camera: ASI533MM

Filter: Chroma RGB

Scope: Astro-Physics AP130EDT, 1085mm at f/8.35

Guiding: ASI 220 on OAG

Exposure: 57minutes total of 7 x 3 minutes Blue, and 6 x 3 minutes ea Red and Green

Location: Home in Calgary, Alberta under Bortle 8 skies

Date: 2025-05-02

Notes: This is one of my QAD (Quick And Dirty) shots, imaging from my backyard in the bright City of Calgary AB Canada. Even with the short exposures and integration time I was please that several of the galaxies in the area were captured, including the barred NGC 4290 and the fuzzy NGC 4284 to the West (right) of the M40 pair, and the bright NGC 4335 and NGC 4362 in the upper left with dimmer NGC 4364 and PGC 40243 between them. Processed in PixInsight with BlurXT and NoiseXT.