M82 "The Cigar's on Fire!" (Steve Argereow)

M82 "The Cigar's on Fire!"

This image is a close-up on M82 from data I took on both M81 and M82 from March 2023.
Lately I can't buy a clear moonless night without haze or smoke so I decided to process
this image.
When I zoomed in to M82 the stars were blouted with halo's. I took the original stacked
image from Astro Pixel Processor and did a 70% star and Halo reduction. After doing this
the stars were much better but the image of M82 itself was greatly distorted.
I used Layering and mask in GIMP. I used the original image with a clean M82 and erased
the stars then used the background mask which had the star reduction. Then did some cropping
to get M82 nearly centered.

Both M81 and M82 were discovered by Johann Elert Bode on December 31, 1774. Bode is also the Astronomer
who was credited with "Bode's Law" and determined the orbit of Uranus and suggested the planet's name.
M82 is 11.5 million light-years away, 38,000 light-years in diameter, with >30 billion stars.

Information Credits: Home Free Star Charts

Telescope: Explore Scientific 127mm CF APO Refractor f/5.25 667mm
Mount IOptron CEM40
Camera ZWO2600MC Temp -10C Binning 1 x 1
ZWO EFW/ 2" Filter Tray

30 X 300 Second Exposures W/Optolong L-Ultimate Gain 100 Offset - 2 hrs 30 min Taken on Feb March 2023
15 X 600 Second Exposures W/Optolong L-Ultimate Gain 100 Offset - 2 hrs 30 min Taken on 3/16/2023
39 X 300 Second Exposures W/Optolong L-Ultimate Gain 100 Offset 50 - 3hrs 15 min Taken on 3/20/2023
64 X 240 Second Exposures W/Optolong L-Pro Gain 100 Offset 50 - 4hrs 16 min Taken March 2022
30 Dark Frames/ and Flats

Total Integration Time: 12 Hours 31 Minutes
Acquisition with SharpCap
Stacked with APP
Guiding PHD2
Processed with Astra Image

Photo taken from Seven Lakes, NC: Bortle 4.5

ZWO ASI 2600MC PRO
North Carolina Astronomers
SharpCap Users
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Status	Advanced failed
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	7953763
PixInsight job	CJC7Z353HE0E49DQRQ04XGKJHEXX5760
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	PLATE_SOLVING_IMAGE

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M82 "The Cigar's on Fire!"

M82 "The Cigar's on Fire!"

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