Messier 101 - The Pinwheel Galaxy - 2020 Version
Date: May 21, 2020
Cosgrove’s Cosmos Catalog ➤#0024
Messier 101 - The Pinwheel Galaxy (click to enlarge)
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About the Target
Located in the constellation Ursa Major (the Big Dipper), M101 is a large face-on spiral galaxy located 21 Million light-years from Earth. It is almost twice the size of our own galaxy, the Milky Way, about 170,000 light-years across and containing about a trillion stars. M101 is asymmetrical - it has been distorted by the tidal forces from other galaxies in its local group.
About the Project
This was taken after a long spell with no clear nights, I finally got one last night, and no moon was up!
This image was taken on my William Optics 132mm FLT APO Refractor on an IOptron CEM60 mount. The camera was a ZWO 294MC Pro. It is the result of 42x180 sec subs. Stacked with DeepSky Stacker, and processed with Pixinsight and Photoshop
The Annotated Image
An annotated image of M101 created by using Pixinsight’s ImageSolver and AnnotateImage Scripts.
The Location in the Sky
IAU/Sky & Telescope Constellation Map of Ursa Major - with M101 marked by the yellow arrow.
More Information
Wikipedia: M101 Entry
Nasa: Hubble Image of M101
Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Infrared Image of M101 from the Spritzer Telescope
Capture Details
Light frames
42 x 180 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C, unity gain
Total of 2.1 hours
Cal Frames
Not recorded
Capture Hardware
Scope: Astrophysics 130mm Starfire F/8.35 APO Scope: William Optics 132mm f/7.0 FLT APO
Guide Scope: Sharpstar 61EDPHII
Camera: ZWO ASI1600mm-pro with ZWO Filter wheel with ZWO LRGB filter set,
and Astronomiks 6nm Narrowband filter set
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI290Mini
Focus Motor: Pegasus Astro Focus Cube 2
Camera Rotator: Pegasus Astro Falcon
Mount: Ioptron CEM60
Polar Alignment: Polemaster camera
Software
Capture Software: PHD2 Guider, Sequence Generator Pro controller
Image Processing: Deepsky Stacker, Pixinsight, Photoshop - assisted by Coffee, extensive processing indecision and second-guessing, editor regret and much swearing….
During August and September I was out shooting every clear night. I had learned a lot of things but I was also noticing several issues that were causing me problems as I did more imaging. I decided to do something to address those issues….