If you have ever wondered what a bazillion dollars buys you in the Astronomy world, here is an example. Yesterday’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is a shot of M 96 (AKA NGC 3368) taken by the HST (Hubble Space Telescope). Below is the same galaxy taken in 2013 by the PTO deep space camera through my 10″ scope.
M 96 [C:9x300s]
You can definitely see the prominent dust lanes visible in the HST image although in mine you cannot positively identify them as such. They could be gaps between spiral arms. In the HST shot you can also see what appear to be either background galaxies or satellite galaxies on the upper right and middle left of the main target as well as a bright young cluster of blue stars on the galaxy’s left. All three are visible in the PTO shot but they all appear as small blurry spots.