Combination of 10, 3 minute exposures unfiltered.
SBIG STL-1001E CCD. 20" f/6.8 Dall-Kirkham cassegrain telescope at prime focus
NGC 3172, also known as Polarissima Borealis, is the closest NGC object to the North Celestial Pole, located just under 1 degree for the pole. At magnitude 14.4, it is not a particularly striking object, but interesting never-the-less because of its location.
Its southern hemisphere counterpart is NGC 2753 , otherwise known as Polarissima Australis.
The faint patch just to the right of NGC 3172 is the galaxy PGC 36268.