M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy (blastrophoto)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: IC 4263 · M 51 · NGC 5194 · NGC 5195 · Whirlpool Galaxy

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M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

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M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

This is one of my first completed results with the new QHY533M. This HDR composite was no small task. 5 hrs RGB data captured from B4 skies, 3hrs Lum data captured from B2 skies, and 9hrs Ha captured from my backyard. This project took over a month to complete as clear skies were few in number. The most challenging part of this project was getting the Lum to play nicely with the HaRGB. I spent quite a bit of time playing with a variety of different stretches to find that right balance between bright wispy tail and detailed dust lanes and core. I honestly thought the hard part was going to be adding the Ha to the data but that was probably the easiest part! Haha. The problem was that core being SOO bright compared to everything else. A few masks later and three different stretched tifs, I had a master_lum to work with. This was also one of the first images I've processed using NoiseXterminator rather than Topaz. After using this incredible noise reduction tool, I can say with confidence I will not be going back to Topaz. If you haven't used NoiseXterminator yet, give it a go. It's magic!

AstroBros
NOVAC
FriendlyCosmos

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	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
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	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
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	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
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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.

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	Basic success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	5765279
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

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M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

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Image Index:

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M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

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