Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa)  ·  Contains:  Bode's nebulae  ·  M 81  ·  M 82  ·  NGC 3031  ·  NGC 3034
Messier 82 Cigar Galaxy and Messier 81 Bode's Galaxy, Harri Heikkinen
Messier 82 Cigar Galaxy and Messier 81 Bode's Galaxy
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Messier 82 Cigar Galaxy and Messier 81 Bode's Galaxy

Messier 82 Cigar Galaxy and Messier 81 Bode's Galaxy, Harri Heikkinen
Messier 82 Cigar Galaxy and Messier 81 Bode's Galaxy
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Messier 82 Cigar Galaxy and Messier 81 Bode's Galaxy

Equipment

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Acquisition details

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Description

This galaxy pair is one of my favorites and was really happy to finally give it a go and try out new OAG setup in action. Guiding was running smooth -- until to my horror the OAG camera had collided with mount tripod while I had fallen asleep. Luckily there was no permanent damage done and now there are correct EQMOD safety limits in place. Some lessons are learned the hard way..

Seeing was far from optimal due to >50m/s jetstreams during both nights. Guess that's why it was hard to get more image details - tried to add more subs with no visible effect. Also the OAG setup should be very close to the specified 105mm back-focus to the F6.3 reducer, but had to crop quite a bit as the corners were getting out of whack. This setup is perhaps better suited to more centered targets.

The image is far from perfect but as an OAG test and learning experience I'm quite happy with the outcome, especially given the challenges with seeing combined with bortle 8 skies.

Modified Canon 1100d @ ISO 1600, Altair GPCAM2 guidecamera on Omegon OAG. Lights: 99x180" + 26x300". Calibration: 40 flats, 20x180" + 20x300" darks, 40 dark flats, 20 bias.

As always, improvement suggestions are more than welcome. Thanks for watching and clear skies!

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