M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy (Jeff Kisslinger)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: IC 4263 · IC 4278 · M 51 · NGC 5194 · NGC 5195 · Whirlpool Galaxy

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M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy

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M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy

This my second shot at M51. My first attempt was done a couple years ago when I first got into astrophotography. In fact, I was just playing around with the recently acquired Hyperstar and was so happy that I was able to get some images. I also did not use any calibration frames with my first attempt and made a crude attempt at processing with GIMP.

My second attempt was performed using an OAG and 0.63X focal reducer for the first time. I also shot the luminance with the ASI2600MM and the RGB with the ASI2600MC, something I learned from Dylan O'Donnell. The results are much better as I feel more confident in my processing skills with PixInsight. I have to admit that I'm still struggling with various gradients in my color images, even with my flat, dark and dark flat frames. I would love to hear if anyone has run into similar issues. I'm also seeing some under correction issues that were more noticeable using the 0.63 focal reducer. Any input is welcome.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my second attempt at M51!

Light Polluted skies
Optolong L-Pro filter
Broadband under Bortle 7/8/9
Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope (SCT) Imagers
ZWO ASI 2600MC PRO
Suburban Astrophotography
Central USA

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Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

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.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
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	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	4577094
PixInsight job	CTM3HO9MTLAJ8LXGG8F1R90HV7OUYAIL
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	13h29m52s.13
RA (top/left)	13h27m07s.95
RA (top/right)	13h32m38s.58
RA (bottom/right)	13h32m38s.21
RA (bottom/left)	13h27m03s.70

Dec (center)	+47°12′07″.8
Dec (top/left)	+46°53′16″.8
Dec (top/right)	+46°53′53″.6
Dec (bottom/right)	+47°30′43″.6
Dec (bottom/left)	+47°30′07″.3

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M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy

M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy

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M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy

M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy

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