After a winter where I had little opportunity to get any astrophotography done for various reasons, mostly related to the weather, I got out recently to break the drought.
Over the course of 2 nights on the 9th and 10th of April. It is currently Galaxy season, and so the targets were galaxies. Messier 51 and Messier 101 to be exact. Also known as the Whirlpool Galaxy and the Pinwheel Galaxy respectively.
Both of these objects appear in the catalog of astronomical objects compiled by the French astronomer Charles Messier in 1774.
The Whirlpool Galaxy
This image is the result of 12 hours of exposure taken with an ASI553MC OSC Camera.
This version is annotated to show some very faint galaxies that have been captured.
The Pinwheel Galaxy
This image is an LRGB combination comprising of 13 hours of exposure. This is broken down as:
- Luminance – 6h 52m
- Red – 2h 12m
- Green – 2h 12m
- Blue – 2h 12m
This is the annotated version.
