Yellow Star Sprays in the
The Whirlpool Galaxy in Canes Venatici
with 10" f/3.9 and 8" f/3.9 Astrographs
Uploaded 6/13/21

 

            
This combined 4 hours
            of exposure was with two different astrogaphs at two separate
            observatories. The goal was to show the enormous sprays of yellow
            stars extending from the companion galaxy and reaching down below
            the main disk of M51 in color.

            
The 10 inch in Payson
            was used to obtain the Luminance image for 2 hours with the ST10XME
            CCD camera. The color data was taken at our second observatory
            up in Happy Jack, and was for 2 hours with the 8 inch astrograph
            with ZWO OSC camera under pristine skies. Such deep color exposures
            were essential for bringing up the yellow coloration in the star
            sprays.

            
Select an image size for a larger view:

1400 x 1290


Instrument:  10" f/3.9 and 8" f/3.9 Orion Astrograph Newtonian with Baader MPCC
Mount:  Astrophysics 1200 QMD, Home made GEM
CCD Camera:  SBIG 10XME NABG with Enhanced Water Cooling
CMOS Camera:  ZWO ASI071C Pro
Guider: Meade DSI Pro  w/80mm piggyback refractor
Exposure:  2h + 2h total
AstroDon RGB Combine Ratio:  1: 1.05: 1.2
Location:  Payson, Arizona, Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing FWHM = 3 arcsec , Transparency 9/10
Outside Temperature:  45 F
CCD Temperature:  -20 C
Image Processing Tools: 
Maxim DL6:  Calibration, deblooming (Starizona Debloomer), aligning, stacking
PixInsight:  Curves, Deconvolution
Photoshop CS2:  Curves, Color Correction, Gradient removal (Grad Xterminator), Cleanup

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