M81 & M82 Bode's & Cigar Galaxy Mosaic - Red Zone ( Douglas J Struble )

M81 & M82 Bode's & Cigar Galaxy Mosaic - Red Zone

Imaging telescopes or lenses:Celestron 1100HD, Explore Scientific 152 mm Carbon Fiber, Stellarvue 102mm Raptor

Imaging camera:ZWO ASI1600MM-Cool

Mounts:Astro-Physics Mach 1 GTO, Celestron CGX on Pier

Guiding telescopes or lenses:Orion 80mm Short Tube, Stellarvue 50mm Guidescope

Guiding camera:Starlight Xpress Lodestar x2

Software:Sequence Generator Pro, PixInsight, PHD2, Photoshop CS5, SkySafari Pro

Filters:Astrodon Ha 5nm, Astrodon Green Tru-Balance E-Series Gen 2, Astrodon Lum Tru-Balance E-Series Gen 2, Astrodon Blue Tru-Balance E-Series Gen 2, Astrodon Red Tru-Balance E-Series Gen 2, Astrnomik CLS-CCD

Accessories:QHYCCD PoleMaster, Celestron OAG, ZWO 8x 1.25" Filter Wheel (EFW), MoonLite CFL 2.5" Large Format Focuser

Resolution: 3842x4800

Dates:Jan. 3, 2017, April 23, 2017, April 24, 2017, Nov. 24, 2017, Nov. 30, 2017, May 5, 2018, May 11, 2018, May 22, 2018, May 23, 2018

Integration: 52.8 hours

Darks: ~50

Flats: ~50

Flat darks: ~50

Bias: ~250

Avg. Moon age: 15.19 days

Avg. Moon phase: 41.13%

Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 6.12

Astrometry.net job: 2237354

RA center: 149.033 degrees

DEC center: 69.328 degrees

Pixel scale: 0.657 arcsec/pixel

Orientation: 324.596 degrees

Field radius: 0.561 degrees

Locations: Backyard Red Zone Observatory, Taylor, MI, Michigan, United States

Data source: Backyard

I decided to try a mosaic using four different data sets taken with three different telescopes over the past couple years captured from my red zone back yard.

M81 and M82 are a pair of galaxies in the constellation Ursa Major. The pair are located approximately 10 degrees northwest of the "Big Dipper" pointer star Dubhe (Alpha Ursae Majoris). The apparent separation of the galaxies is 31 arc-minutes but at a distance of 12 million light-years, their actual distances from each other is 150,000 light years. They are the largest members of the M81 Group, a physical association of of 34 galaxies.

M81:

Messier 81 or M81 (also designated NGC 3031) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 6.9 and its angular diameter is 21x10 arc-minutes. M81 lies at an estimated distance of 12 million light years. The Equinox 2000 coordinates are RA= 9h 55.6m, Dec= +69° 04´. As one of the more famous objects in the Messier Catalog, it is commonly known as the Bode´s Galaxy. Although included in the Messier Catalog, this spiral galaxy was actually discovered by J. E. Bode in 1774. According to Stoyan et al. (2010), the distance of M81 is 11.8 million light years and its diameter is 92,000 light years. Its estimated mass is 50 billion solar masses.

M82:

Messier 82 or M82 (also designated NGC 3034) is a starburst galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 8.4 and its angular diameter is 9x4 arc-minutes. M82 lies at an estimated distance of 12 million light years. The Equinox 2000 coordinates are RA= 9h 55.8m, Dec= +69° 41´. As one of the more famous objects in the Messier Catalog, it is commonly known as the Cigar Galaxy. In spite of its inclusion in the Messier Catalog, this peculiar galaxy was actually discovered by J. E. Bode in 1774. M82 has an irregular, distorted disk due to the gravitaional interaction of its larger neighbor M81. It is known as a starburst galaxy since it is the site of intense star-forming activity. According to Stoyan et al. (2010), the distance of M82 is 11.5 million light years and its diameter is 37,000 light years. Its estimated mass is 50 billion solar masses.