M51- Whirlpool Galaxy 2023 (John Dziuba)

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

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M51- Whirlpool Galaxy 2023

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M51- Whirlpool Galaxy 2023

This is the second test image with my new TOA150 rig based at Sierra Remote Observatory. I am still tuning the rig and working through some issues with flexure and tilt. This is a rather small target for this telescope at 1050mm focal length, so as a result this is a cropped image. Therefore, resolution is not as good as I would like but the ideal seeing conditions and small pixels of the ASI6200 sensor still enabled me to resolve quite a bit of detail.

This image was initially captured with significant moonlight in the sky which washed out some of the fine detail in the tidal streams. I did not like my first processed image (revision A) and decided to wait out 10 days of cloudy weather to double up the integration time. So half of the exposures are with bright moonlight and the other half are with a dark sky. Overall, I am really happy with the final outcome compared with the image I took last year with my HD11 from my backyard and Bortle 8 skies.

M51 is located 31 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. It is a classic spiral galaxy that is interacting with a smaller galaxy NGC 5195 which is passing behind M51. The small galaxy has been gliding past the Whirlpool for hundreds of millions of years. The tidal forces from the smaller galaxy appear to be tugging on the arms of the whirlpool and it is thought that this is contributing to new star formation in the region.

Original
C
Final
E

Takahashi Refractors
PixInsight Addicts
ASI 6200 MM Pro
GHS Made a Substantial Difference
Southern Hemisphere Astro
Fine Art Astrophotography

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	7883537
PixInsight job	X1SOIJNIDEIOQ2YPI53MT8BGVGAOZF7Q
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	13h29m53s.152
RA (top/left)	13h28m10s.741
RA (top/right)	13h28m26s.939
RA (bottom/right)	13h31m34s.497
RA (bottom/left)	13h31m20s.334

Dec (center)	+47°12′00″.39
Dec (top/left)	+47°27′52″.82
Dec (top/right)	+46°53′38″.37
Dec (bottom/right)	+46°56′02″.17
Dec (bottom/left)	+47°30′18″.57

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M51- Whirlpool Galaxy 2023

M51- Whirlpool Galaxy 2023

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M51- Whirlpool Galaxy 2023

M51- Whirlpool Galaxy 2023

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