M82 in HaRGB

[wimvb]

Clear nights are far between, and I'm not going to start a project that requires a long integration time. This is M82, plain and simple. I collected 6 hours RGB yesterday and combined it with 6 hours Ha which I collected more than a year ago, but never processed.

This target needs no presentation, only technical details.

As usual, I used the MN190 with ASI294MM camera. Optolong RGB filters and Baader 7nm Ha filter.

24 x 5 minutes exposures per filter for RGB, 93 x 4 minutes for Ha. Total integration time, 12 hours

Processed in PixInsight

[ollypenrice]

Nice. Bold Ha and good star colour make this a fine widefield galaxy image.

Olly

[wimvb]

9 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Nice. Bold Ha and good star colour make this a fine widefield galaxy image.

Olly

Thanks, Olly. Glad you like it.

"Bold" befits this galaxy, unlike its close neighbour which is a lot subtler (/ more subtle??)

[tomato]

Nice to see M82 as the sole subject of the image, but surrounded by a decent amount of space. M81 must be just out of shot…

 Cloud cover here has been extremely frustrating, my imaging plan for galaxy season is in tatters, I’m hoping for better in April.👍

[wimvb]

2 hours ago, tomato said:

Nice to see M82 as the sole subject of the image, but surrounded by a decent amount of space. M81 must be just out of shot…

 Cloud cover here has been extremely frustrating, my imaging plan for galaxy season is in tatters, I’m hoping for better in April.👍

Thanks!

M81 is just below the image edge. I would either have to rotate the camera or create a mosaic to get it in. Having a fixed camera orientation has certain disadvantages, but the benefits outweigh them, imo. It allowed me to use last year’s H-alpha subs with minimal loss near the edges.