Messier 95 & Messier 96
Date: Feb 23, 2020
Cosgrove’s Cosmos Catalog ➤#0019
Messier 95 and Messier 96 (click to enlarge)
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About the Target
These twin Barred-Spiral Galaxies, M95 and M96, can be found in the constellation Leo. M95 is in the lower-left corner and is 33 Million Light years away. M96 in the upper right corner is 30 Million light-years away.
About the Project
This is a quick edit from 35 3-minute sub-exposures. Processed with a combination of Deepskystacker, Pixinsight, and Photoshop.
The Annotated Image
An annotated image of the M95 and M96 galaxies was created by using Pixinsight’s ImageSolver and AnnotateImage Scripts.
The Location in the Sky
IAU/Sky & Telescope Constellation Map of Leo - with the M95/96region marked by the yellow arrow.
More Information
Wikipedia: Messier 95
Wikipedia: Messier 96
Capture Details
Light frames
35 x 180 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C, unity gain
Total of 1.75 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….