Hello,
M51 and its smaller companion, the dwarf galaxy
NGC 5195 reside about 23 million light years away in the constellation Canes Venatici, close to the bright star Alkaid, which represents the end of the Big Dipper's handle. According to Wiki (so it must be true lol!), M51 was the first
DSO to be classified as a sprial galaxy, and this pair is about as good it it gets for making observations of two galaxies interacting. This was a fun shoot where everything seemed to go as planned... at least at first lol! In the end, I made a mistake with the luminance flats, so unfortunately much of the surrounding field in this image had to be cropped out.
M51 in LRGB, imaged April 11th from my driveway in Kathleen, GA, an orange zone
40 x 180s Luminance
15 x 90s
RGB (2x2 bin)
3hrs, 7mins 30sec total exposure
Scope: Orion ED80 (
F/7.5) w/Hotech SCA/
FF & Moonlite focuser
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM Pro @-20C, Gain:75
Filters: Baader 1.25" LRGB
Resolution: 1.31"/px
Mount: Skywatcher NEQ6 Pro
Guiding: ST-80 (SBS) on ADM MiniMax w/ASI174MM Mini (PHD2)
Capture:
SGP
Processing: PixInsight
The magenta is just starting to come through in the spiral arms, so I may add some more (maybe a little deeper)
RGB to the image to see if it will do the trick.
Thanks for looking- Comments, critiques and wisdom appreciated as always!
Mike
