M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy in LRGB (CrestwoodSky)

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

M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy in LRGB, CrestwoodSky

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M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy in LRGB

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M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy in LRGB

This image was taken during a single evening in late March 2023 with an ASI2600mm Pro through a Celestron 8" EdgeHD at f/10 on an EQ6-R Pro.

The image comprises:

L: 119 x 60s
R: 30 x 60s
G: 30 x 60s
B: 30 x 60s

Total integration time was three hours and 29 minutes. The image was processed in Pixinsight and tweaked in Photoshop.

The clouds finally abated late last week, after ruining the best nights of the waning moon cycle. It's been a wet and cloudy winter in Arizona, so clear, dark, moonless nights have been much scarcer than expected. This is especially unfortunate now that I have the 8" EdgeHD and the observatory.

I had planned to spend the spring nights seeking out lesser-known galaxies and spending several nights gathering data on each. The persistent bad weather forced me to concentrate on the brighter objects so that I could at least get a good sampling of galaxies in the relatively few clear nights we've had and test out the EdgeHD.

Oh, well. One doesn't control the weather. I'll take the clear nights I get. The observatory has really proven its value, though, allowing me to easily take advantage of unexpected clearings at short notice without the hassle of lugging all the equipment outside and then having to haul it back into the house when the clouds return. Clearly, a worthwhile investment. I am very happy I had it built.

Images from the EdgeHD Series
Celestron EdgeHD 800 Imagers
Imaged with APT
Arizona Astrophotographers
ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
Cloudy Nights

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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.
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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	7417164
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

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M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy in LRGB

M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy in LRGB

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M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy in LRGB

M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy in LRGB

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