Focal Pointe Observatory
Astrophotography by Bob Franke

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M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

 

Click the image for a larger and wider view. (2400 x 1800 - 1.02 MB)

Instrument

Takahashi FSQ-106ED @ f/5.0 (530 mm F.L.) Captured at 2.1 arcsec/pixel.  Shown at 2.83 and 3.78 arcsec/pixel.

Mount

Losmandy G11 with Gemini L4 v1.0

Camera

SBIG STF-8300M Self Guiding Package w/ mono ST-i, using an AstroDon Ha and  Baader LRGB filters.

Acquisition Data

4/20/2015 to 5/20/2015  Chino Valley, AZ

Exposure

Lum

280 min. (40 x 7 min.)  binned 1x1

Ha

210 min. (14 x 15 min.)

Red

105 min. (15 x 7 min.)        "

Green

140 min. (20 x 7 min.)        "

Blue

196 min. (28 x 7 min.)        "

eXcalibrator RGB ratios are 1.00, 1.15 & 1.41

Software

  • CCDSoft, CCDStack, PixInsight & Photoshop CS6.

  • eXcalibrator v4.30 for (g:r) color balancing, using 129 stars from the SDSS-DR9 database.

  • CCDStack to calibrate all sub exposures, register and stack the color and create the RGB image.

  • PixInsight processing includes registering and stacking the luminance, gradient repair, non-linear stretching with HistogramTransformation and HDRMultiscaleTransform to  enhance the detail of the galaxies.

  • PhotoShop for creating the LRGB and final touch up.

  • Noiseware 5, a PhotoShop plug-in.

Comment

North is to the top

Discovered by Pierre Méchain, in 1781, Messier 106 (also known as NGC 4258) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. M106 is at a distance of about 23 million light-years from Earth. It is also a Seyfert II galaxy, which means that due to x-rays and unusual emission lines detected, it is suspected that part of the galaxy is falling into a supermassive black hole in the center.

NGC 4248, to the right, at a distance of about 21 million light-years is a possible companion galaxy.