Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  IC 4277  ·  M 51  ·  NGC 5194  ·  NGC 5195  ·  Whirlpool Galaxy
Whirlpool Galaxy - M51, clexdigital
Whirlpool Galaxy - M51
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Whirlpool Galaxy - M51, clexdigital
Whirlpool Galaxy - M51
Powered byPixInsight

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Description

The Whirlpool Galaxy taken on April 19, 2020

This was the first image I was able to use with AutoGuiding; I had much trouble getting it to work with SBIG hardware but finally was successful. Still need to work on the settings as I am still limited to max 180 seconds on a perfect night.

All frames were stacked in DeepSkyStacker using a 3xDrizzle and a Median method. This photo is the first photo processed with the new workflow guide from Trevor Jones of AstroBackyard. While a much more time-consuming process, I believe the work has paid off compared to my previous attempts at this data.

Each channel was taken into Photoshop then multiple small curves and levels adjustments applied. For the gradient, I copied the layer and blurred it completely using a dust & scratches filter. I then "applied image" this blurred version on my previous layer and that greatly removed the gradient (this is in place of taking Flat and Bias frames).

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Whirlpool Galaxy - M51, clexdigital