M81 & M82 galaxies

[alexd]

Two lovely galaxies in the constellation of Ursa Major captured over two nights in March 2022. This is my first galaxy shot processed in Pixinsight. I found it very tricky to balance the colours and contrast in the galaxy and background. Any ideas on how to improve the Ha in M82 or more generally?

Taken with my Esprit 100ED and ZWO ASI294MC Pro and an Astronomik L2 filter.

104 x 240s light frames (6h 56' total time)

[Sunshine]

A beautiful image, great job!

[alexd]

Just now, Sunshine said:

A beautiful image, great job!

Thanks Sunshine, appreciated

[PeterC65]

A lovely image of one of my favourite targets. Gives me something to aim for next time I view the pair via EEVA (I've a long way to go).

[geeklee]

1 hour ago, alexd said:

Any ideas on how to improve the Ha in M82 or more generally?

Great result @alexd  Holmberg IX just, just coming through too 👍

I have a couple of hours of 7nm Ha from a year or two back.  It's around the same image scale - you'd be welcome to it.  It would just need registered with your master and then you can play with adding it (various methods available).  If it's no good, you can throw it out!

Preview, but I can supply the FITS file.

Edited December 4, 2022 by geeklee