Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  IC 4263  ·  IC 4277  ·  IC 4278  ·  M 51  ·  NGC 5194  ·  NGC 5195  ·  PGC 2286797  ·  PGC 2287260  ·  PGC 2289565  ·  PGC 2292105  ·  PGC 2294282  ·  PGC 2297311  ·  PGC 2300341  ·  Whirlpool Galaxy
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M 51, Tom Engwall
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M 51

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M 51, Tom Engwall
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M 51

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Description

Another M 51 but I didn't have it in my portfolio, so here is my attempt. I tried some new techniques on this image. The most significant one was Adam Block's "Combining Ha by Continuum Subtraction". As Adam explains , star light often contains the full continuum of the visible spectrum, so the nebulosity in and around M 51 contains Ha but I only want to add that to the star forming nodes in the galaxy. His technique subtracts out that Ha continuum before adding it to the Red (and a little to the Blue) masters -  using pixel math -  followed by channel combination with the Luminance.This technique requires a lot of trial and error before finding the best factors but I found it to be  worthwhile and useful. I probably need more experience with it but definitely will be using it in the future.

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M 51, Tom Engwall

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