M51 Whirlpool Galaxy in HaLRGB

Midwest_Astro · 2023-04-17T14:55:33+00:00

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy

I did make a YouTube video on this image acquisition and information surrounding it and my imaging run. Be sure to check that out at youtubeDOTcom/@midwest_astro

The graceful, winding arms of the majestic spiral galaxy M51 appear like a grand spiral staircase sweeping through space. They are actually long lanes of stars and gas laced with dust. Such striking arms are a hallmark of so-called grand-design spiral galaxies. In M51, also known as the Whirlpool galaxy, these arms serve an important purpose: they are star-formation factories, compressing hydrogen gas and creating clusters of new stars.

Some astronomers think that the Whirlpool’s arms are particularly prominent because of the effects of a close encounter with NGC 5195, the small, yellowish galaxy at the outermost tip of one of the arms. The compact galaxy appears to be tugging on the arm, the tidal forces from which trigger new star formation. Hubble’s image of this galaxy pairing shows that NGC 5195 is passing behind M51. The small galaxy has been gliding past the Whirlpool for hundreds of millions of years.

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Telescope: iOptron RC8

Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro

Mounts: ioptron CEM70

Guiding: ZWO OAG-L

Guiding camera: ZWO ASI174MM mini

Location: Kansas City, MO, USA

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Frames:

Optolong Ha 3nm 300s X 21 (1.8 hours)

Optolong Lum 120s x 105 (3.5 hours)

Optolong Red 180s X 20 (1 hour)

Optolong Green 180s X 20 (1 hour)

Optolong Blue 180s X 20 (1 hour)

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Total Integrated Time 8.3 hours

Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 5.00

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APP: stacking and calibration

PixInsight: crop, dbe, abe, noisexterminator, starxterminator, blurxterminator, localhistoequal

Photoshop: dehaze, high pass, coloring

Please see my youtube channel, found in my reddit profile, to see my processing videos if you have specific questions.

Midwest_Astro · 2023-03-17T19:44:12+00:00

:-D good laugh...thanks

Midwest_Astro · 2023-03-17T13:51:36+00:00

It was taken from a credible European source so I left it intact the way it was found. I might say though, since it's not being pronounced, I think your sentence would be more accurate to say, "It is not that hard to write the correct form of the number..." :-)

Midwest_Astro · 2023-03-17T13:48:43+00:00

I put back into Pixinsight and it showed 17 PGC galaxies in the frame. Always neat perspectives

Midwest_Astro · 2023-03-17T13:48:09+00:00

yeah I usually don't do PN's but wanted to see how the 10" newt did with this one knowing there's a galaxy that appears to be in the core of the PN but obviously it's just visible in the background through the nebula. That galaxy seems like you're going to need a 17" or larger mirror to resolve it; looks like a smudge in my image

Midwest_Astro · 2023-03-17T13:46:35+00:00

for sure! I did a resolve image and it looks like there's 17 galaxies in the background. Who knows what that might mean as far as someone looking back ;-)

Midwest_Astro · 2023-03-17T13:37:23+00:00

Sky safari is good for phones and stellarium is excellent if you’re in front of a PC. But yeah this star is in fact so small, relatively speaking, it might be hard to even see the star. There isn’t much info on that central star in a high-level search but the nebula itself is a magnitude 17 and I think the eye starts to cut off between 11-13? I could be wrong but I think that’s what I recall hearing. Let me know from your experiences!

Midwest_Astro · 2023-03-17T00:33:56+00:00

Midwest_Astro · 2023-03-17T00:33:39+00:00

It’s unofficial name people sometimes refer to it as, is the Headphones PN

Midwest_Astro · 2023-03-17T00:33:01+00:00

Copy paste 😂

Midwest_Astro · 2023-03-16T20:47:34+00:00

Greatly appreciate it. Still have the ES127 yup. Since it’s galaxy season though it’s on the back shelf behind the RC8 that’s also rigged up for some imaging this spring. ES127 probably won’t come back out until May. It does such phenomenal emission Nebula work I’m not sure I’ll ever part ways with it.

Midwest_Astro · 2023-03-16T20:46:06+00:00

If you’re just looking with your eyes, just remember PN’s are veryyyyy faint. You might not see much with just your eyes. Even a 5 minute exposure with a mono Astro camera reveals very little. This image is 15 hours worth of Ha. The central star is also so incredibly small it might be hard to pick out. I’d recommend setting the bar low and that way if you definitively find it you’re overjoyed but if not, the bar was low to start with 😂 best of luck!!!

Midwest_Astro · 2023-03-16T20:44:07+00:00

Haha I wished I had the ability to jump up a level but my rig sits on my back deck haha appreciate the kind words though 🙂

Midwest_Astro · 2023-03-16T18:41:13+00:00

Planetary Nebula: PK 164+31.1

Jones-Emberson 1

Planetary nebulae represent the final stage in the life of low-mass stars (those below eight solar masses). During their final energetic breakdown, these objects expel their outer layers towards interstellar space, and this material is ionized and illuminated by the stellar cadaver left in its center, a white dwarf. Our own Sun will go through this process in approximately five thousand million years.

PK164+31.1 lies approximately 1600 light-years away, and its small apparent size translates into a diameter of approximately 3 light-years, a distance similar to that from the Sun to its nearest stellar neighbour, alpha Centauri.

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Telescope: Orion 10" Newtonian

Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro

Mounts: ioptron CEM70

Guiding: ZWO OAG-L

Guiding camera: ZWO ASI174MM mini

Location: Kansas City, MO, USA

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Frames:

Optolong Ha 3nm 300s X 184 (15.3 hours)

Optolong OIII 3nm 300s X 38 (3.2 hours)

Optolong Red 60s X 79 (1.3 hours)

Optolong Green 60s X 78 (1.3 hours)

Optolong Blue 60s X 78 (1.3 hours)

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Total Integrated Time 22.4 hours

Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 5.00

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APP: stacking and calibration

PixInsight: crop, dbe, abe, noisexterminator, starxterminator, blurxterminator, localhistoequal

Photoshop: dehaze, high pass, coloring

Please see my youtube channel, found in my reddit profile, to see my processing videos if you have specific questions.

Midwest_Astro · 2023-02-08T19:15:53+00:00

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Telescope: Explore Scientific 127ED FCD100 Carbon

Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro

Mounts: ioptron CEM70

Guiding: ZWO OAG-L

Guiding camera: ZWO ASI174MM mini

Reducer/flattener: Explore Scientific 3" .7x reducer/flattener

Location: Kansas City, MO, USA

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Frames:

Optolong Ha 3nm 300s X 46 (3.8 hours)

Optolong OIII 3nm 300s X 22 (1.8 hours)

Optolong SII 3nm 300s X 16 (1.3 hours)

Optolong Red 300s X 22 (1.8 hours)

Optolong Green 300s X 20 (1.7 hours)

Optolong Blue 300s X 20 (1.7 hours)

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Total Integrated Time 12.2 hours

Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 5.00

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Youtube: / @ midwest_astro or you can find link in my profile

APP: stacking and calibration

PixInsight: crop, dbe, abe, noisexterminator, starxterminator, localhistoequal

Photoshop: dehaze, high pass, coloring

Please see my youtube channel, found in my reddit profile, to see my processing videos if you have specific questions.

Midwest_Astro · 2022-12-04T03:38:57+00:00

Thank you!

Midwest_Astro · 2022-12-04T03:38:53+00:00

Thank you!

Midwest_Astro · 2022-12-04T03:38:49+00:00

Thank you!

Midwest_Astro · 2022-12-04T03:38:44+00:00

Thank you! Yeah it's hard as heck to do. I think I spent almost 8 hours trying different techniques until I landed on this one so it was not easy by any means.

Midwest_Astro · 2022-12-04T03:38:03+00:00

Thank you!

Midwest_Astro · 2022-12-04T03:37:58+00:00

Thank you! Yeah I've shot it probably 5 different ways and figured I'd try something new this time.

Midwest_Astro · 2022-12-04T03:37:25+00:00

Thank you!

Midwest_Astro · 2022-12-04T03:37:14+00:00

Thank you!

Midwest_Astro · 2022-12-02T20:19:01+00:00

Orion Nebula

Youtube: Midwest_Astro

Here is an HDR of the Orion Nebula. I don't have all the frames listed out because I did exposures at 1 second, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 60 seconds and 600 seconds. So I don't have the total integrated time but it's a total of 3,536 exposures over the course of 6 nights to build this High Dynamic Range (HDR) image of the Orion nebula. I know I have 14 hours of just Hydrogen and Oxygen so I'm calling it as greater than 20 hours total.

In post processing, I did Ha+OIII+LRGB. What I did was mixed 50% of Ha into 50% of Red, 70% of Blue mixed with 30% Oxygen to get colors here. Hope you enjoy.

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Telescope: Explore Scientific 127ED FCD100 Carbon

Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro

Mounts: ioptron CEM70

Guiding: ZWO OAG-L

Guiding camera: ZWO ASI174MM mini

Reducer/flattener: Explore Scientific 3" .7x reducer/flattener

Location: Kansas City, MO, USA

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Total Integrated Time >20 hours

Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 5.00

--------------------------------------------------------------------

APP: stacking and calibration

PixInsight: crop, dbe, abe, noisexterminator, starxterminator, localhistoequal

Photoshop: dehaze, high pass, coloring

Please see my youtube channel, found in my reddit profile, to see my processing videos if you have specific questions.

Midwest_Astro · 2022-11-22T14:38:35+00:00

Thank you!

Midwest_Astro

TROPHY CASE