M51 - The Whirlpool (Gary Sizer)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: IC 4263 · IC 4278 · M 51 · NGC 5169 · NGC 5173 · NGC 5194 · NGC 5195 · NGC 5198 · Whirlpool Galaxy

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M51 - The Whirlpool

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M51 - The Whirlpool

The first (and last!) time I photographed The Whirlpool was in 2005, with a first gen Mead DSI. Wow, how far we've come!

This was also my first session running the ASIAIR Pro from the warmth of my own bed on a sub freezing night. (Note: if you must picture this, please put an old timey nightcap on my head, in addition to some blue footy pajamas. Thanks.)

I had hoped to lie in bed staring at this gem on my iPad screen for both nights this weekend, but alas the sky only gave me Friday, so instead of ten hours on target, I only got five. Good news everybody! I think I have the hang of multi-session stacking, so that fine detail will continue to emerge.

I love talking about this, and especially answering questions, so if you have them, please ask!

Thanks for looking, and clear skies!

GG

Original
Final
B

B

Description: Improving my guiding and processing, specifically color balance. I've learned recently that lower gain and shorter exposures improve the image (to a point, of course).

Compare this to Version A, which is slightly more total integration, but collected at 2 minute intervals. This one is much sharper, with only 60 second subs.

Also, be sure to zoom in. I'm proud of my focus and guiding on this one. :)

Uploaded: ...

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	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	4407715
PixInsight job	QSPW48A1HRPM4QDVODOSBHK8TW0BKJTT
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	13h29m54s.43
RA (top/left)	13h32m04s.60
RA (top/right)	13h33m51s.75
RA (bottom/right)	13h27m40s.56
RA (bottom/left)	13h26m03s.50

Dec (center)	+47°16′01″.6
Dec (top/left)	+46°23′39″.2
Dec (top/right)	+47°56′25″.2
Dec (bottom/right)	+48°08′13″.4
Dec (bottom/left)	+46°35′07″.7

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M51 - The Whirlpool

M51 - The Whirlpool

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M51 - The Whirlpool

M51 - The Whirlpool

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