M81, M82 & NGC 3077 (Richard Beck)

M81, M82 & NGC 3077

I chose the framing in this photo to capture three M81 group objects. Often, it seems, NGC3077 (which in some ways is unremarkable in this image) is omitted.

From Wikipedia:

Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away, with a diameter of 90,000 light years, about half the size of the Milky Way, in the constellation Ursa Major. Due to its proximity to Earth, large size, and active galactic nucleus (which harbors a 70 million solar mass supermassive black hole), Messier 81 has been studied extensively by professional astronomers. The galaxy's large size and relatively high brightness also makes it a popular target for amateur astronomers.

Messier 82 (also known as NGC 3034, Cigar Galaxy or M82) is a starburst galaxy approximately 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. A member of the M81 Group, it is about five times more luminous than the whole Milky Way and has a center one hundred times more luminous than our galaxy's center. The starburst activity is thought to have been triggered by interaction with neighboring galaxy M81. As the closest starburst galaxy to Earth, M82 is the prototypical example of this galaxy type. SN 2014J, a type Ia supernova, was discovered in the galaxy on 21 January 2014. In 2014, in studying M82, scientists discovered the brightest pulsar yet known, designated M82 X-2.

NGC 3077 was discovered by William Herschel on November 8, 1801. He remarked that "On the nF (NE) side, there is a faint ray interrupting the roundness." Admiral Smyth described it as "A bright-class round nebula; it is a lucid white, and lights up in the centre ... between these [stars,] the sky is intensely black, and shows the nebula as if floating in awful and illimitable space, at an inconceivable distance."

B

Description: Camera rotated ~180 degrees from flats. Flats rotated and scaled to appropriate target.

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C

Description: Bumped up the saturation of the RGB image prior to adding the lum.

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D

Description: Reprocessed the L data and boosted the blue channel a bit.

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E

Description: Alternative processing

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F

Description: PCC before SCNR (prior versions were reverse order), saturation boost

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	3375520
PixInsight job	74MD1SF3G8XPH6WUS490Q6JRAFJ015O6
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	09h58m40s.85
RA (top/left)	09h51m49s.83
RA (top/right)	09h50m57s.77
RA (bottom/right)	10h04m55s.17
RA (bottom/left)	10h07m05s.57

Dec (center)	+69°14′25″.7
Dec (top/left)	+70°15′03″.8
Dec (top/right)	+68°17′58″.8
Dec (bottom/right)	+68°12′50″.2
Dec (bottom/left)	+70°09′26″.3

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M81, M82 & NGC 3077

M81, M82 & NGC 3077

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Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

M81, M82 & NGC 3077

M81, M82 & NGC 3077

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F

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