M81 and M82 (Curt Fleenor)

M81 and M82

I took advantage of two clear nights to not only dust off the scope and pop-the-top on the observatory but learn to better use a ZWO Auto Focuser I picked up last fall. These are Bode's Galaxy (M81 on the left) and the Cigar Galaxy (M82 on the right). This isn't the first time I have imaged the pair but it is by far the best image I have ever produced of them.
Image is just under 5 hours of exposure (4.95hrs) across two nights (742 images x 24 seconds/each).
This the first time I have tried to combine data from multiple nights so that was a learning experience. It took nearly 24hours to perform the integration...thought my Mac Mini was going to melt! Most of that time was probably my fault for including too way many dark frames.
It had been so long since I was able to work on any images, I had to revisit several tutorials to get my head back into the process. Learned a lot of new techniques that I hope will help the next time around.Capture Details:
Scope- Orion EON 115mm Triplet
Mount- Orion Atlas AZ/EQ-G
Camera- ZWO ASI 2600 MC ProImage Capture Info:
750 light frames x 24sec (only 742 integrated)
750 dark frames x 24sec (way too many...)
80 flat frames x .03sec (40 per session)
80 bias frames x .03sec (40 per session)
80 flat dark frames x .03sec (40 per session)

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

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

M81 and M82

M81 and M82

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

Histogram

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

M81 and M82

M81 and M82

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

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?

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