Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  HD117815  ·  IC 4263  ·  IC 4277  ·  IC 4278  ·  M 51  ·  NGC 5194  ·  NGC 5195  ·  NGC 5198  ·  Whirlpool Galaxy
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Unfinished Business In The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), estabrook
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Unfinished Business In The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Unfinished Business In The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), estabrook
Powered byPixInsight

Unfinished Business In The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)

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Description

Unfinished Business In The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51).  After a tentative test-shot with a DSLR, I plunged into astrophotography with the purchase of a Hyperstar and a ZWO ASI183MC Pro in May 2021.  When that gear arrived, I attached it to my Celestron Evolution 6 and immediately aimed for M51, whose interaction with NGC 5194 is so intriguing.  My first finished photo, which you can see below, wasn't good enough to post, but it absolutely thrilled me--I couldn't believe that, from my light polluted yard, I could make out the spiral arms of a galaxy more than 30 million light years away!  I was hooked.  Within a week or so I was posting photos of other galactic targets to Astrobin, but I never had never returned to M51...until now.

After a month of clouds, I finally got one clear night to take care of some unfinished business.  I used the first hour or so to tackle my nagging Hyperstar collimation issues.  As I achieved some limited success on that front, I noticed that the Big Dipper was rising above the trees, and M51 along with it.  I spent the next 7 hours gathering the Whirlpool's photons.  The data processed very easily, and I was pleased with how much detail I got at 300mm focal length, and with my improvement since 2021.

(Captured: C6, AM5, Hyperstar, ASI183MC Pro, Optolong L-Pro filter. Processed: AstroPixelProcessor, PixInsight, StarXterminator, NoiseXterminator, BlurXterminator)

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