Messier 82--the Cigar Galaxy--is one of the most fascinating nearby galaxies, particularly with its brilliant filaments of hydrogen.
Tidal (gravitational) interactions with the nearby Messier 81 (Bode's Galaxy, imaged at same pixel scale here:
https://www.astrobin.com/mgjkwf/I/) have warped and compressed the galaxy, leading to at least a tenfold faster rate of star formation. This phenomenon is why M82 is referred to as a starburst galaxy. Moreover, it is the closest known example of a starburst galaxy, leaving it delightfully accessible to us amateur astrophotographers. The characteristic hydrogen filaments are blasted out from the regions of rapid star formation in strong galactic "superwinds". The Planetary Society has a beautiful writeup on M82 here:
https://www.planetary.org/space-images/m82-the-cigar-galaxyThis image was gathered over two observing nights in February 2022 with an 8" Schmidt Cassegrain telescope in a suburban backyard, imaged on a one shot astrocamera. The first night gathered 7 hours of 300" wideband subexposures (Optolong L-pro filter) to get the overall color and expression. The second night gathered 9 hours of 300" dual-narrowband subexposures (Optolong L-extreme filter) and extracted Ha to further bring out those gorgeous hydrogen filaments. The two datasets were individually stacked and then combined as HaRGB.
I also toyed with RGBHOO as in my recent Tadpoles image (
https://www.astrobin.com/7bh2ga/G/), but it didn't add much over the HaRGB.
This is my first time imaging this target, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I have! Please do take the time to explore: there are several distant galaxies (usually with "PGC" annotations) lurking to be discovered.
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