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3-12 2021-2020-2019 M81-82 Comb-843Min STCrLMJ2
We captured this famous pair of Messier objects, M81 & M82 galaxies, on March 12, 2021. We added past 2 year's data to create this image, so we have a total of 14 hours of exposure here. The fainter parts of these galaxies are easier to bring out with >7 or 8 hours of imaging time, as seen in this image
M81 also known as Bode’s Galaxy, is a grand design spiral galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major. The galaxy lies at an approximate distance of 11.8 million light years from Earth. It occupies an area of 26.9 by 14.1 arc minutes of apparent sky, which corresponds to a linear diameter of about 90,000 light years. The active galactic nucleus of M81 contains a supermassive black hole with a mass of 70 million solar masses (15 times the mass of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way).
M81 has two well resolved spiral arms that contain large quantities of interstellar dust, associated with numerous starburst regions. Another member of the M81 Group, is the Cigar Galaxy (M82). It can be seen 38 arc minutes north of M81. It is starburst galaxy meaning that it has a very high rate of formation of new stars. The Cigar Galaxy is ~12 million light years away and occupies an area of 11.2 by 4.3 arc minutes of apparent sky. This translates to a linear diameter of about 37,000 light years.
We captured this pair in Ursa Major constellation (Big Dipper) with our Stellarvue 105mm refractor and a Nikon D5300 DSLR calera fitted with an LP filter to cut down on light pollution from ruining our image. Capture details for 2021 are: ISO200, f7 and a total of ~ 5 hours (298 minutes) of exposure (129x2 min + 26x1.5Min). Additional 9 hours (545 minutes) worth of toal exposures from 2020 and 2019 were added to 2021 data to bring out the details in the fainter spiral arms of M81 (the galaxy on the left). M82 is on the right in our image above. Enjoy!
3-12 2021-2020-2019 M81-82 Comb-843Min STCrLMJ2
We captured this famous pair of Messier objects, M81 & M82 galaxies, on March 12, 2021. We added past 2 year's data to create this image, so we have a total of 14 hours of exposure here. The fainter parts of these galaxies are easier to bring out with >7 or 8 hours of imaging time, as seen in this image
M81 also known as Bode’s Galaxy, is a grand design spiral galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major. The galaxy lies at an approximate distance of 11.8 million light years from Earth. It occupies an area of 26.9 by 14.1 arc minutes of apparent sky, which corresponds to a linear diameter of about 90,000 light years. The active galactic nucleus of M81 contains a supermassive black hole with a mass of 70 million solar masses (15 times the mass of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way).
M81 has two well resolved spiral arms that contain large quantities of interstellar dust, associated with numerous starburst regions. Another member of the M81 Group, is the Cigar Galaxy (M82). It can be seen 38 arc minutes north of M81. It is starburst galaxy meaning that it has a very high rate of formation of new stars. The Cigar Galaxy is ~12 million light years away and occupies an area of 11.2 by 4.3 arc minutes of apparent sky. This translates to a linear diameter of about 37,000 light years.
We captured this pair in Ursa Major constellation (Big Dipper) with our Stellarvue 105mm refractor and a Nikon D5300 DSLR calera fitted with an LP filter to cut down on light pollution from ruining our image. Capture details for 2021 are: ISO200, f7 and a total of ~ 5 hours (298 minutes) of exposure (129x2 min + 26x1.5Min). Additional 9 hours (545 minutes) worth of toal exposures from 2020 and 2019 were added to 2021 data to bring out the details in the fainter spiral arms of M81 (the galaxy on the left). M82 is on the right in our image above. Enjoy!