M101 - The Pinwheel Galaxy

19:10 26/3/2009 UTC

M101 is a very nice photogenic spiral galaxy in Ursa Major. The galaxy is positioned face-on and the spiral arms are very nicely visible. M101 is a large galaxy at 27 million light years away from us. It is almost twice as large as Milky Way and spans 170 000 light years across making it appear quite a large in our sky. M101 is clearly elognated in shape which hints about past interaction with another galaxy.

This image is a composite of CCD luminance and DSLR color data. The color data dates back to the ATM Meet 2007 in Artjärvi. I found a very significant change in my processing method while processing the luminance data and got a much smoother background to this image compared to my previous methods. I think I need to get back to my Leo Triplet image and see if I can get more out of it with the new way.

Camera: Atik Instruments 4000LE, Modified Canon EOS 350D | Telescope: Skywatcher ED80 Pro 80mm f7.5 refractor, William Optics 0.8x focal reducer | Mount: Vixen GP-D2, Boxdoerfer PowerFlex MTS-3SLP drive controller | Filters: Baader IR/UV block | Guiding: , The Imaging Source DMK 21AU04.AS CCD camera, Orion ShortTube 80mm f5 refractor, Stark-Labs PHD Guiding | Exposure: L: 53x180s(2h39m) CCD @ -20°C + RGB: 8x300s (40m) ISO800 f6 (EOS DSLR) | Software: CCDWare CCDStack, Stark-Labs Nebulosity 2, Adobe Photoshop CS4, Artemis Capture, GradientXTerminator Plugin | Location: 60°31'N 26°52'E (Koivula/Kotka,FI)