M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy (CrestwoodSky)

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

M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy, CrestwoodSky

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M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

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M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

This is the first image taken with my rig since I completed the (completely exhausting) move from New York to Arizona. Spent a couple of weeks waiting for my equipment to arrive, then the usual hassles getting the mount, cameras and software to all play nicely together again.

Chose M51 as my first imaging target since it's nice and bright and easily found (my plate solving wasn't quite working when I took this image) - and because it's just a favorite DSO.

The image was taken on March 10 with an ASI1600mm Pro through an Explore-Scientific 127ED with a Hotech field flattener from my new Bortle 4 zone location (compared to my prior Bortle 8/9 zone in NY). It comprises:

L: 108 x 30s

R: 28 x 120s

G: 28 x 120s

B: 28 x 120s

Total exposure time was 3 hours and 42 minutes.

The image was processed in Pixinsight and StarTools and Tweaked in PS.

Original
Final
B

B

Description: Reduced the red-orange at the galaxy's core to provide a more even color range.

Uploaded: ...

Cloudy Nights
Imaged with APT

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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.
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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	Basic success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	4352859
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

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M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

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M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

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