Dave Boddington
M51_L_HaRGB_Final_Crop
Started back in February 2019 and finished over the last three beautifully clear night. In total 13hrs of Lum, 5 hrs each RGB and 14hrs of Ha. Lum and RGB through my Esprit150/SX46 and Ha through piggybacked Esprit100/ASI1600mm mounted on a Mesu 200. Processed in APP, Pixinsight and Photoshop with mild deconvolution of Lum and Ha.
The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a, M51a, and NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. Distance is estimated to be 23 million light-years and diameter 76,000 light years. Its mass is estimated to be 160 billion solar masses
What later became known as the Whirlpool Galaxy was discovered on October 13, 1773, by Charles Messier while hunting for objects that could confuse comet hunters, and was designated in Messier's catalogue as M51. Its companion galaxy, NGC 5195, was discovered in 1781 by Pierre Méchain. In 1845, William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, employing a 72-inch (1.8 m) reflecting telescope at Birr Castle, Ireland, found the Whirlpool possessed a spiral structure, the first "nebula" to be known to have one.
Also in the image are IC4263 (top right) , IC4277 (below left) and IC4278 (below)
M51_L_HaRGB_Final_Crop
Started back in February 2019 and finished over the last three beautifully clear night. In total 13hrs of Lum, 5 hrs each RGB and 14hrs of Ha. Lum and RGB through my Esprit150/SX46 and Ha through piggybacked Esprit100/ASI1600mm mounted on a Mesu 200. Processed in APP, Pixinsight and Photoshop with mild deconvolution of Lum and Ha.
The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a, M51a, and NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. Distance is estimated to be 23 million light-years and diameter 76,000 light years. Its mass is estimated to be 160 billion solar masses
What later became known as the Whirlpool Galaxy was discovered on October 13, 1773, by Charles Messier while hunting for objects that could confuse comet hunters, and was designated in Messier's catalogue as M51. Its companion galaxy, NGC 5195, was discovered in 1781 by Pierre Méchain. In 1845, William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, employing a 72-inch (1.8 m) reflecting telescope at Birr Castle, Ireland, found the Whirlpool possessed a spiral structure, the first "nebula" to be known to have one.
Also in the image are IC4263 (top right) , IC4277 (below left) and IC4278 (below)