Whirlpool Galaxy

[Snoani]

I have been blessed with four nights of cloudless skies over the past week so I have taken advantage of them by capturing M51, despite the blustery conditions.  Generally I am very happy considering the size of the scope that I am using to capture this.  

This is made up 4.5 hours of luminance, 2 hours of Red, 2 hours of green and 2.5 hours of blue.  Taken using a Meade 6000 80mm APO, HEQ5 (belt mod), ZWO 1600MM  

It is 10 months since I purchased my deep sky rig and M51 was one of the first targets that I imaged, albeit with a different scope and using a DSLR, and I have included this image below to highlight the improvements that I have made during that time.  I still have a lot to learn but have many years ahead to do so.  

[peter shah]

When you put them side by side there is a massive improvement ..... That is a fine M51, nicely detailed

[MartinB]

That's terrific work with an 80mm scope