M97 & M108

M97 the Owl Nebula, is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Ursa Major, The Great Bear.

Estimated to be about 8,000 years old it lies just over 2,000 light years away from us. It's given the monicker 'Owl Nebula' because of what looks to be a round face with two big eyes.

 

M108, also in Ursa Major, is much further away at approximately 46 million light years. This barred spiral galaxy gets the nickname 'Surfboard galaxy'. This edge on galaxy is thought to have a black hole at it's core 24 million times the mass of our Sun.

 

Both objects were first discovered by the French astronomer Pierre François André Méchain in 1781. Discovering M108 three days after M97.

 

Boring techie bit:

Skywatcher Quattro 8" Newtonian Reflector steel tube with the f4 aplanatic coma corrector, Skywatcher EQ6 R pro mount, Altair Starwave 50mm guide scope, ZWO asi120mm guide camera mini, ZWO asi533mc pro cooled to -20c gain 100, Optolong L'enhance 2" filter, ZWO asiair plus.

180s exposures.

Best 70% of 32 light frames.

Darks, Flats & Bias.

Stacked with DeepSkyStacker and processed in StarTools.

Done