M81 & M82 (Esprit 100ED + Drizzle)

The M81 and M82 galaxies are a pair of galaxies located in the constellation Ursa Major.

M81 (also called the Bode's Galaxy) is a spiral galaxy that lies approximately 11.8 million light years away from us, its size is approximately 45000 light years.

Its neighbor, M82 (The Cigar Galaxy) is an irregular galaxy at roughly the same distance away from Earth, this Galaxy measures about 18500 light years.

 

It took me 5 nights to take this picture. 3 nights with the L-PRO Filter & 2 with the L-Extreme filter. (to get the Hydrogen Alpha / Red)

As it was the last possible target for me before the Galaxy Season, I decided to increase the exposure time and tried to get some Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN) but it was too faint and the light Pollution won the battle.

I'll try to get longer exposures next year (10min or maybe 15 min) as a last try to get this damn IFN.

 

So, as the IFN was not for this year, it was time to drizzle and check the result. It took me a few attempts to get this result, but in the end, I'm very pleased with the result as the galaxies take up a little more space into the frame. :)

(The stacking Process freezed my computer for almost 5 hours, but it was worth it)

 

(I put the originally non drizzled picture at the end of the Slide Show)

Clear Skies to you all !

 

L-PRO :

Lights : 316 x 300 sec (26h20)

Darks : 60 ~ Offset : 100 ~ Flats : 100

 

L-Extreme :

Lights : 98 x 600 sec (16h20)

Darks : 60 ~ Offset : 100 ~ Flats : 100

 

Setup :

Camera : ZWO ASI 2600 MC

Main Scope : Skywatcher Esprit 100 ED

Guide Camera : ZWO ASI 120MM Mini

Guide Scope : ZWO Mini Guide Scope

Mount : Skywatcher EQ6-R

Filters : Optolong L-Extreme, Optolong L-PRO

Others : ZWO ASIAIR PRO, ZWO EAF

 

Stacking / Processing with PixInsight / Photoshop CC

Done