m81 and m82 second try (Mike Jaworski)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa) · Contains: Bode's galaxy · Bode's nebulae · Cigar galaxy · M 81 · M 82 · NGC 3031 · NGC 3034

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m81 and m82 second try

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m81 and m82 second try

This is a completely different data set than the last m81+m82 image uploaded a few days ago, so I'm making a new image. I made a number of changes to the scope itself, which is another change.

For this image, I put in some effort to blacken the scope as indicated in the examination of flats uploaded a few days ago. In addition to reducing/eliminating stray light, an aperture stop was removed moving the scope from f/6 to f/5 (approximately). With the reduction of stray light, I was able to increase the sub-exposure time to 180s instead of 120s and get the sky-fog bank to about the same place in the histogram. That seems like a big win since it should be indicative of the improved contrast.

Anyway, the image is improved over the last version. I didn't have to bin the image down by 50% to get more signal out. This means better resolution from higher size. In addition, the SNR seems better so I was able to eliminate more of the blotchiness present in the other version (i.e. stretches were not quite as excessive w.r.t. what the data could sustain).

I hope you enjoy.

Original
Final
B

B

Description: This version makes use of data from both nights, so 2 and 3 minute subs together. A bunch of things changed so it's a bit messier than it could be, I think. I've also tried to push the data much harder than the first one. This is more in the spirit of how I processed M53. I'm still getting used to it - feels like I'm going too far.

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
PixInsight job	EUJPADNKXOGUJKNTRUCA6N8W1IGR00C1
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	09h55m00s.20
RA (top/left)	09h53m01s.10
RA (top/right)	10h05m17s.66
RA (bottom/right)	09h57m09s.35
RA (bottom/left)	09h44m44s.66

Dec (center)	+69°18′36″.8
Dec (top/left)	+68°25′14″.10
Dec (top/right)	+69°20′51″.10
Dec (bottom/right)	+70°11′54″.3
Dec (bottom/left)	+69°13′55″.1

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m81 and m82 second try

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m81 and m82 second try

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