The aptly named Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) floats against a field of stars, with other very small galaxies in view. One of the most iconic astroimaging targets is normally imaged at a higher magnification but still presents an impressive sight when imaged at a wider field of view. This image is a result of only 48 minutes of total data imaged through LRGB filters. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -20C and Gain:139 Offset:21 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Light Frames: Luminance: 12 x 60 secs (12 mins) Red: 12 x 60 secs (12 mins) Green: 12 x 60 secs (12 mins) Blue: 12 x 60 secs (12 mins) Dark Frames: 20 x 60 secs (20 mins) Additional info from Wikipedia: The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a, M51a, and NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus.[7][6][8] It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy.[9] Its distance is estimated to be 23 million light-years away from Earth. The galaxy and its companion, NGC 5195,[10] are easily observed by amateur astronomers, and the two galaxies may be seen with binoculars.[11]
So this is a set of data I took earlier this year. I was having some issues with my remote setup at the time and didn't like some aspects of how things were working and so I went off on a troubleshooting sidetrack and never got back to this. Eventually I kinda forgot I had taken the data at all. As it turned out, even with some issues the the data was good enough to make a decent image, although I think it could have benefitted from more subframes. As it is, I ended up with about 8 and 1/2 hours worth of frames, mostly in narrowband, with a typically small stack of RGB data to add back in natural color stars. This object is reasonably bright, and does have signal in all 3 narrowband wavelengths that are typically used. As is often the case, the Hα signal is the strongest, with the OIII and SII signals being noticeably weaker. I would have taken a little more data in SII and OIII to compensate a bit had I not interrupted my data collection on this. IC410, as it is otherwise known, is a nebula in the constellation Auriga, and is located approximately 12,000 light years away from Earth. A number of newborn stars have been detected in this relatively energetic star forming region. The namesake tadpoles can be seen in the just left of center of the image, 'swimming' towards the center of the frame :) Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -15C and Gain:200 Offset:50 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Innovations Foresight ONAG Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Innovations Foresight SkyGuard Software Bisque TheSkyX Light Frames: Ha: 28 x 360 secs ( 2 hrs 48 mins) OIII: 26 x 360 secs 2 hrs 36 mins) SII: 28 x 360 secs (2 hrs 48 mins) Red: 12 x 30 secs (6 mins) Green: 10 x 30 secs (5 mins) Blue: 10 x 30 secs (5 mins) 8 hrs 28 mins total Dark Frames: 10 x 60 secs, RGB (10 mins) 10 x 360 secs (1 hr)
Here is another M13 image, this time using the refractor for a wider view. M13 is one of the larger and more impressive globular clusters visible, and makes for an interesting target in almost any scope. This image is an RGB composite with just a little of the luminance data blended in to get some glow in the core without washing out the colors. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -15C and Gain:0 Offset:10 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Light Frames: Luminance: 50 x 30 secs (25 mins) Red:50 x 60 secs (50 mins) Green:50 x 60 secs (50 mins) Blue: 49 x 60 secs (49 mins) 2 hrs 54 mins total Dark Frames: 10 x 30 secs, RGB (5 mins) 10 x 60 secs, Luminance (10 mins) Bias Frames 60 Flat Frames 10 each filter More from Wikipedia: Messier 13 or M13, also designated NGC 6205 and sometimes called the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules or the Hercules Globular Cluster, is a globular cluster of several hundred thousand stars in the constellation of Hercules. About 145 light-years in diameter, M13 is composed of several hundred thousand stars, the brightest of which is a red giant, the variable star V11, also known as V1554 Herculis,[12] with an apparent visual magnitude of 11.95. M13 is 22,200–25,000 light-years away from Earth.[13]
