Jump to content

Narrowband

Rescued M81 & M82


Recommended Posts

Quite pleased with this one, it's a rescued shot of M81 & M82 taken last year, using a Meade ED80.

21649341254_d9ee718afb_b.jpg

It's about an hour and a half of unguided subs if I remember correctly. Quite a bit went wrong with this image, the sub length (90 seconds) was too long and the focuser on the Meade wasn't up to taking the weight of the camera, so the sensor was crooked. Individual subs looked like this. It'll never be a great shot but managed to fix it somewhat by cropping and using the lens distortion tool in StarTools, so I thought it was worth sharing. Taken with the help of Wayne Thomas.

There is also a tiny edge-on spiral galaxy at top right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great to hear from another StarTools user and one who has mastered the Lens module as well!

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks. Not sure I've mastered it though, more a case of flailing around until I got some settings that improved things. With the sensor being off-kilter there was only so much I could do. I intend to have another go with the lens tool and be more scientific about it, I should be able to use flats to find the centre-point and adjust from there.

The image link took me to this article, which was an interesting read thanks. Unfortunately NGC 3077 was just off the edge of my stacked image, it's in some subs but not others as the tracking was off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice image. I would be very happy with that if I had taken it.

Can I just ask (and here I will show my noviceness). Is that another galaxy I can see just to the left of one of the brighter stars? It's a little blue fuzz about 4"  above and almost centre of M81 and M82.

Regards

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can I just ask (and here I will show my noviceness). Is that another galaxy I can see just to the left of one of the brighter stars? It's a little blue fuzz about 4"  above and almost centre of M81 and M82.

I'm not sure. There doesn't seem to be anything on Stellarum there so it might be an artifact of some kind.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

took the liberty of running it through nova.atrometry.net - NGC3951 galaxy I think it is.  You've also got a very small galaxy IC744

attachicon.gifCapture.JPG

Thanks for that, but I'm not sure the smear we are talking about is NGC 3951, it's too far to the left and according to the image on this site doesn't have a bright star right next to it. Zooming in on the image on Flickr I think I can make out NGC 3951 but it looks like an elongated star, it's really small. I can't see IC744 but at top right there is what looks like an edge-on spiral, unless that's also an artifact.

However, another galaxy in frame that hasn't been mentioned is Holmberg IX, a satellite galaxy of M81. It's visible as a small fuzzy patch just below it.

It's fun to search images like this, each little fuzz-blob we can identify is billions of suns and potentially billions of worlds after all. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've got the same smear in my old pic of the pair too though, in the upper left corner between the two medium-brightness stars:

Well spotted, and that's a really nice image. :) I've found it on Google Sky, the smear is a spiral galaxy. The galaxy at upper right is on there too. I don't know how to find out their designations though. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Knight of Clear Skies, on 27 Oct 2015 - 7:18 PM, said:Knight of Clear Skies, on 27 Oct 2015 - 7:18 PM, said:

In the context of my image, certainly.  :grin: Would you prefer the Feral Galaxy or the Rabbit Galaxy?

 Well I think it wasn't just me so perhaps "Stargazerslounge Galaxy" would be more appropriate.  :grin:  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.