M51 (The Whirlpool Galaxy) (vt_programmer)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: IC 4263 · IC 4277 · IC 4278 · M 51 · NGC 5194 · NGC 5195 · Whirlpool Galaxy

Powered byPixInsight

M51 (The Whirlpool Galaxy)

Powered byPixInsight

M51 (The Whirlpool Galaxy)

This is my first attempt at a galaxy using the ZWO OAG. Previously I imaged the Andromeda galaxy with the HyperStar.

It was a pain to set up. First off I had to move the prism close to the edge of the FOV because of the APS sized sensor in the 2600. My ASI 120MM was also very hard to focus, and I ended up slightly chipping the bottom of the prism because I forgot to unscrew the lock screw holding the prism adjuster in. As far as I can tell there was no major damage done to the prism as I was able to find a single guide star. Speaking of which I was glad I was able to find a star. This was a whole different method than using the zwo mini guide scope. Once I set up a new profile for PHD things went really smoothly. My total error for the night hovered around 0.5"

One thing I didn't do was dither. I now know what "walking noise" is. Next time I'll be sure to dither every few frames.

This was also my first time using the Spike-A Flat Fielder. It was so nice seeing the dust motes and vignetting vanish after using WBPP in Pixinsight.

I wanted to use the L-Pro filter with this, but I soon realized that the imaging train didn't have any space for this. So next time I'd like to get the ZWO filter slider/drawer combo to try and combat the LP from my backyard, or leave the city for a dark sky. I'd love to be able to try 5' or longer subs to get more detail in the outer parts of NGC5195.

Feedback is welcome!

Original
Final
B

B

Description: Edited using my Pixel 5

Uploaded: ...

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

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	4287348
PixInsight job	45VYM5XLFOQL9Q3KSOH8YMZRDH97BYJD
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	13h29m53s.591
RA (top/left)	13h29m01s.649
RA (top/right)	13h27m45s.492
RA (bottom/right)	13h30m44s.764
RA (bottom/left)	13h32m03s.132

Dec (center)	+47°13′18″.45
Dec (top/left)	+47°39′56″.84
Dec (top/right)	+46°55′38″.88
Dec (bottom/right)	+46°46′37″.61
Dec (bottom/left)	+47°30′47″.78

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

M51 (The Whirlpool Galaxy)

M51 (The Whirlpool Galaxy)

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

Revisions

B

Sky plot

Histogram

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

M51 (The Whirlpool Galaxy)

M51 (The Whirlpool Galaxy)

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

Revisions

B

Sky plot

Histogram

Notifications

AstroBin is in READ ONLY mode

Sorry :-(

Sorry :-(

Sorry :-(

Are you really sure?

Warning!

Warning!

Are you sure?

Report abuse

Slideshow settings

IOTD/TP stats (last [x] days)

Distribution of astrophotographers

Distribution of subject types

Distribution of data sources

Sorry

Sorry

Share

Upload new revision

Upload uncompressed source (XISF/FITS/PSD/TIFF)

Delete image and all its revisions?

Delete original image?

Delete all other versions?

Delete all revisions?

Delete this revision?

IOTD/TP stats

The following people like this image

The following people bookmarked this image

Warning

Flag malfunctioning thumbnails

Contains

Remove yourself as a collaborator

Plate-solving information