M51 Whirlpool Galaxy with a Redcat 51 (Tom Pestano)

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

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M51 Whirlpool Galaxy with a Redcat 51

Messier 51, aka the Whirlpool Galaxy, is a famous grand-design spiral galaxy located in the constellation Canes Venatici. It lies at an approximate distance of 31 million light years from Earth.

M51's most striking feature is its two curving arms, a hallmark of so-called grand-design spiral galaxies. These arms serve an important purpose in spiral galaxies. They are star-forming regions, compressing hydrogen gas and creating clusters of new stars.

To its left, connected by a tidal bridge of dust, is NGC 5195, a dwarf galaxy that is interacting with the Whirlpool Galaxy.

97 x 300 sec lights
30 darks
30 flats
30 flat darks
Total exposure time: 8hrs 5mins

William Optics Redcat 51 Telescope
SWSA GTI Mount
ZWO 533MC Pro Camera
Optolong L-Extreme Filter
SVbony 50mm Guide Scope
ZWO 120MM Guide Camera
ZWO EAF
ZWO Mini Filter Wheel
ZWO ASI AIR Pro

Image Acquisition location: Antipolo PH. 14N 121E. Bortle 4 sky.
Image Acquisition Software: ASI AIR Pro
Image Processing: Pixinsight and Lightroom.

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	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
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Top picks
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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
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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.
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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	7630835
PixInsight job	PYU6HGP6HRNEXSCE02D5LY0Z5AURLSNF
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	13h29m51s.28
RA (top/left)	13h27m59s.30
RA (top/right)	13h29m04s.51
RA (bottom/right)	13h31m42s.50
RA (bottom/left)	13h30m38s.49

Dec (center)	+47°13′25″.6
Dec (top/left)	+47°26′22″.5
Dec (top/right)	+46°51′52″.0
Dec (bottom/right)	+47°00′24″.2
Dec (bottom/left)	+47°35′00″.3

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M51 Whirlpool Galaxy with a Redcat 51

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Image Index:

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M51 Whirlpool Galaxy with a Redcat 51

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