Whirpool Galaxy (Richard Francis)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: IC 4277 · IC 4278 · M 51 · NGC 5194 · NGC 5195 · Whirlpool galaxy

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Whirpool Galaxy

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Whirpool Galaxy

My scope arrived back from extensive work at the factory recently and I have spent the intervening time getting it set up and characterised, since there were some significant changes. I got to the stage a few nights ago where it was ready for a first image and, though it was very late, I went for it, making 2 5 minute luminance images of M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy, an object I had always wanted to image. Pleased with these results I went on to make a set of 4 10 minute images: L, R, G and B. Then at almost 5am and with M51 descending in the sky, I closed the observatory and called it a night.

Despite the lack of moon and clear nights all last week I could not add to it due to a string of social engagements. So this is definitely a work in progress, having just 3 luminance frames and one each of RGB. Clearly there are some cosmic ray colour artefacts which cannot be averaged out! And of course plenty of noise.

Nevertheless, for such a limited amount of data I'm fairly pleased.

Original
B
C
Final
D

B

Description: I had the chance to add more data: another 5x10min Lum, 5x10min Red, 4x10min Green and 4x10min Blue.

Uploaded: ...

C

Description: I've reworked this, using the same original dataset. Different selections of subs, improved processing (now I'm getting better at it) and use of Photometric Colour Calibration, which has made a big difference.

Uploaded: ...

D

Description: A bit more tweaking in PixInsight -- mostly saturation

Uploaded: ...

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	1561663
PixInsight job	SZTB8SK2HEGK30VE0RV68ZC58X7171A1
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	13h29m52s.727
RA (top/left)	13h28m45s.852
RA (top/right)	13h28m40s.851
RA (bottom/right)	13h30m58s.926
RA (bottom/left)	13h31m05s.299

Dec (center)	+47°11′43″.50
Dec (top/left)	+47°27′43″.40
Dec (top/right)	+46°56′24″.28
Dec (bottom/right)	+46°55′40″.81
Dec (bottom/left)	+47°26′59″.14

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Whirpool Galaxy

Whirpool Galaxy

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Whirpool Galaxy

Whirpool Galaxy

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