The M81 & M82 Galaxies
2022 Reprocess
Original 2020 Edit
Image Details:
The M81 (lower right) and M82 (upper right) galaxy pair are located 11 million light years away and are a common target for astrophotographers during the Spring, which is commonly noted as “galaxy season” due to the prevalence of available small galaxies to photograph. Under long exposure totals or under dark skies some diffuse clouds of interstellar and even intergalactic dust is visible, which can be seen as the areas of grey nebula throughout the photo. These clouds are commonly called IFN which stands for “Integrated Flux Nebula,” meaning they are particles reflecting the combined starlight (the integrated flux) of our own galaxy.
2022 Reprocess: In this newer version the background IFN has much better contrast, though the data overall needed more total exposure time
Equipment:
William Optics Star71-II Petzval APO (345mm Focal Length, F/4.9)
ZWO ASI1600MM-P, ZWO Filters
Celestron CGEM-II
Autoguiding: Orion 50mm Guidescope + ZWO ASI224MC
Exposures:
Luminance: 299 x 180” (Total: 14h 57m)
Red, Green, Blue: 38, 38, 38 x 240” (Total: 7h 36m)
Hydrogen-Alpha 7nm: 212 x 300” (Total: 17h 40m)
Misc Details:
Capture Software: AstrophotographyTool, PHD2 (guiding), Celestron CPWI (mount control), Pegasus Powerbox (dew heater control, power management)
Processing Software: PixInsight
Taken from: Wichita, KS, Bortle 5
Capture Dates: 7 January, 2, 5, 19-20, 24 March, 2020
