M81 & M82 (Steven Joseph Hill)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa) · Contains: Bode's Galaxy · Cigar Galaxy · M 81 · M 82 · NGC 3031 · NGC 3034

M81 & M82

M81 & M82 are 12 million light-years distant in the northern constellation of Ursa Major. On the right, is M81 (Bode's galaxy), with its grand spiral arms and bright yellow core, it spans some 100,000 light-years. On the left, is M82 (The Cigar galaxy), and is classed as an irregular shaped galaxy. Both M81 and M82 have been gravitationally locked for a billion years, gravitationally affecting the other's formation during a series of cosmic close encounters. As a result, M82 has been left with violent star forming regions with gas clouds so energetic that the galaxy glows in X-rays. Similar to our Milky way and the Andromeda galaxy, M81 and M82 will eventually result in a galactic merger forming a single galaxy.

Imaged from home on 23 April 2024 using a SkyWatcher Esprit 120 ED super APO Triplet, ASI2600MC Duo camera, Optolong L-Pro filter (to counter a 99.8% 14.7 day illuminated Moon) and a ZWO AM5 Harmonic drive. As only five hours capture time on target with poor UK weather and a full Moon to contend with, the result was OK. Image processed using PixInsight and Lightroom. Antoniadi Scale II.

ZWO ASI2600MC DUO
Skywatcher Esprit ED Super APO Triplet
UK Astro-Imaging
Welsh Astro-Imaging

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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.

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	9769244
PixInsight job	X0M6AYHRC9KXPSY3YNS4HOKVV7ISY545
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	09h55m43s.281
RA (top/left)	09h51m36s.955
RA (top/right)	09h51m51s.101
RA (bottom/right)	09h59m38s.301
RA (bottom/left)	09h59m46s.676

Dec (center)	+69°17′59″.99
Dec (top/left)	+69°49′00″.29
Dec (top/right)	+68°46′24″.91
Dec (bottom/right)	+68°46′34″.71
Dec (bottom/left)	+69°49′17″.10

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