20211221 - M81-M82  (UMa) - Bode’s Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy - first test-run, spare-time imaging

What’s in the picture(s)
M81 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_81
Quote: “Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 millionlight-years away, with a diameter of 90,000 light years, in the constellationUrsa Major. Due to its proximity to our galaxy, large size, and active galactic nucleus (which harbors a 70 million M☉supermassive black hole), Messier 81 has been studied extensively by professional astronomers”

M82 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_82
Quote: “Messier 82 (also known as NGC 3034, Cigar Galaxy or M82) is a starburst galaxy approximately 12 million light-years away in the constellationUrsa Major. A member of the M81 Group, it is about five times more luminous than the Milky Way and has a center one hundred times more luminous. The starburst activity is thought to have been triggered by interaction with neighboring galaxy M81”

What was the experience
As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I generally plan a ‘spare’ DSO at the end of my imaging-sessions, the last hour running into the morning glow, both with the TS94 and the TS140. These are generally practice runs, checking positioning and framing, exposure settings, etc …

For the TS140, this time it was M81 Bode’s Galaxy and the neighbouring M82 Cigar Galaxy, gradually climbing high up in the sky in the east. However, for me, they remain hidden behind the house until they’re well above 50deg altitude.

These were the only 2 nights of Clear Skies in over 2 1/2 months, and the weather and imaging conditions were not ideal: fog, full moon, a haze from con-trails. I barely had enough RGB-data to match the Luminance. Moreover, the Luminance seemed quite tainted by the haze in the sky, at first I considered it generally unusable …

But, this makes for quite an interesting step again in the processing learning curve …

How it was done
Scope: TS140 APO (FL 910mm)
Mount: CEM70G
Camera: ASI2600MM Pro
Photons:  300s LRGB 8x 4x 4x 5x
Processing: PixInsight (Mac)
Astrobin:

What have I learned from this
Positioning was off between the two imaging sessions, the first night I had centerd manually on coordinates in the middle of the two galaxies. The second night, the automatic planning of the ASIAIR PRO only allowed me to center on M81 as an object. But, for now, enough overlap to have a decent picture … different positioning method next time.
Barely enough RGB, largely being blasted away by the luminance, but I had learned some new processing tricks. The lack of data is impacting the detail, especially in M82, and the star-quality. For the future, expecting each channel to get 1 hour minimum.
As a first go at this with the TS140, this seems decent enough. Some lessons learned for the ‘real’ imaging session … when we eventually get another Clear Sky … some day … 🤩

Clear Skies everybody! 🤩✨🔭

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