M81 - Bode's Galaxy

M81 - Bode's Galaxy: M81 in Ursa Major is one of the brighter galaxies in the sky. It was discovered by Johann Elert Bode in December 1774, and is approximately 12 million light years away. It has a classic spiral shape, showing the magenta regions of active star formation, blue regions with newly-formed young, hot stars, and numerous dust lanes. Nearby M82, the Cigar Galaxy, can be seen on other pages of this site. The dwarf galaxy right above and M81 in this image is Holmberg IX. Numerous much more distant galaxies are also visible in the background. Because of poor seeing conditions some of these galaxies are indistinguishable from dim stars.

Messier: 81
NGC: 3031
Right Ascension: 9h 55m 33.2s
Declination: 69° 3′ 55″
Apparent Magnitude: 6.94

Date: March 2022
Equipment:
Telescope: Planewave 14" CDK (Corrected Dall-Kirkham)
Camera: SBIG STX-16803
Guiding: Orion 80mm" refractor/Starshoot/PHD2

Exposure:
L: 31x5 minute subframes binned 1x1.
R: 13x10 minute subframes binned 2x2.
G: 13x10 minute subframes binned 2x2.
B: 13x10 minute subframes binned 2x2.

Processing Notes: All data were captured using TheSkyX. The data images were then reduced and aligned and summed in CCDStack with a StdDev data reject. The RBG file was combined in CCDStack and exported s a TIFF. The luminance file was imported to Fits Liberator, a arcsine stretch was applied, and then the file was saved as TIFF and imported into Photoshop. Dim areas got a gaussian blur and brighter areas were sharpened. Contrast was enhanced on the galaxy luminance layer via a highpass filter. Final processing and cropping in Photoshop.
Scale: 0.73"/pixel

Additional Comments: This was the first LRGB image captured with the 14" CDK telescope. Taken over two nights with poor-to-average seeing. (FWHM ~5"!) Guiding appeared to have a 2-3" drift on some of the longer exposures, so the AO guiding will definitely need to be implemented soon.

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