M81, M82 and Friends (Mark Germani)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa) · Contains: Bode's Galaxy · Cigar Galaxy · HD85161 · HD85533 · HD85828 · HD86574 · M 81 · M 82 · NGC 2976 · NGC 3031 · NGC 3034 · NGC 3077

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M81, M82 and Friends

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M81, M82 and Friends

We had a over a week of clear skies here in Vancouver (unheard of!) so I started off with M81 & M82. I've tried to track these two down several times, but my star hopping skills have failed me each time. I managed to track them down, though each night (and every time I had to refocus on a bright star) was a struggle.

This is the most time I've managed on a single target since taking up the hobby. My CLS filter is too harsh for galaxy work and I'm still saving up for the Optolong L-Pro, so despite the new moon, skyglow limited me to 30-45 second exposures.

The result really demonstrated the limits of my setup. Under light-polluted skies with no filter, and with my pixel size paired with the Zenithstar 61 (despite aggressive drizzle settings when stacking in APP), I think this is as good as it gets until I can get myself a better CLS filter and start doing longer exposures.

Until then, here's M81 and M82 with two very attractive companion galaxies - NGC 3077 (Garland) and NGC 2976.

The refractors!
Broadband under Bortle 7/8/9
iOptron Skyguider Pro
Canadian Astrophotography
Pacific Northwest Astrophotographers
Unmodified DSLR Deep Sky
Musical Imagers
William Optics ZenithStar Z61/Z81
DSLR/Mirrorless Imagers from the World
DSLR and mirrorless astrophotography
Light Polluted skies

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	4427119
PixInsight job	ITZYIRVBVNF49AWZY1IS4ZP1E1U0NYZR
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	09h55m24s.23
RA (top/left)	09h45m15s.63
RA (top/right)	09h45m56s.10
RA (bottom/right)	10h04m22s.77
RA (bottom/left)	10h06m05s.86

Dec (center)	+69°04′39″.3
Dec (top/left)	+70°23′17″.6
Dec (top/right)	+67°46′08″.3
Dec (bottom/right)	+67°44′18″.7
Dec (bottom/left)	+70°21′21″.4

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M81, M82 and Friends

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M81, M82 and Friends

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