M101 The Pinwheel Galaxy (Peter Webster)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa) · Contains: M 101 · NGC 5457 · NGC 5461 · NGC 5473 · NGC 5485

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M101 The Pinwheel Galaxy

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M101 The Pinwheel Galaxy

M101 The Pinwheel Galaxy. 21ML from Earth. This is rightly a very popular target that I have and will continue to capture. The improvement in CMOS camera technology and the availability of large aperture fast telescopes for the amateur market has made possible the collection of photons in a much shorter time, this is a key factor when imaging from the UK! This image was taken using a Rowe Ackermann 11" telescope with a ZWO EAF focuser coupled with a ZWO 2600MC colour camera 5.5 hours of total data. I used N.I.N.A for capturing then Astro Pixel Processor for stacking. Processing was done in StarTools with a tweak in Photoshop.

In the processing stage, I binned the data to 71% of its original value to increase the SNR with the benefit of reduced processing times within StarTools. The final StarTools image was opened in Photoshop and scaled until the fine detail was no longer exhibiting artifacts.

When I read through all the various forums there is a lot of advice on longer focal lengths for smaller targets, this ,makes a lot of sense if you are imaging from somewhere in the world that has favourable imaging conditions. After a few years enjoying this hobby I am realising that the atmosphere is the limit of resolution with bigger scopes but with a larger aperture scope because it is "faster" you will spend significantly less time accumulating an image. I love the RASA 11, being in the UK it has made all the imaging variables more manageable. I just wish my skies were clear and consistent enough that I could deploy my William Optics 132mm refractor to the same advantage.

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	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
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	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
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Astrometry.net job	4461322
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