Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa)  ·  Contains:  M 101  ·  NGC 5447  ·  NGC 5449  ·  NGC 5450  ·  NGC 5451  ·  NGC 5453  ·  NGC 5455  ·  NGC 5457  ·  NGC 5461  ·  NGC 5462  ·  NGC 5471  ·  PGC 2464645  ·  PGC 2468609  ·  PGC 2469762  ·  PGC 2816075  ·  PGC 49919  ·  Pinwheel galaxy
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M101: LRGB from the back yard, Glenn Diekmann
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M101: LRGB from the back yard

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M101: LRGB from the back yard, Glenn Diekmann
Powered byPixInsight

M101: LRGB from the back yard

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Description

M 101, the graceful Pinwheel Galaxy in Ursa Major, is a difficult visual target from my suburban back yard. Although it is visual magnitude is a relatively bright +7.77, its large size gives it low surface brightness. I detected its pale nebulosity at my club's dark site with the 8-inch SCT I used to take this picture, but even then it was more challenging than I expected.

To truly appreciate the delicate structure of this target, one must image it! I have done so once before. This time, I wanted to get at least 20 hours on it, and I wanted to bring out as much fine detail as possible. The biggest challenge with processing my back yard images is dealing with the copious noise. I am reasonably happy with the result.

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  • M101: LRGB from the back yard, Glenn Diekmann
    Original
  • Final
    M101: LRGB from the back yard, Glenn Diekmann
    C

C

Description: More "pop": contrast and color saturation.

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M101: LRGB from the back yard, Glenn Diekmann