Astronomy and astrophotography under California stars

M81 and M82

Galactic Pair in Ursa Major
M81 and M82, spiral galaxies in the constellation Ursa Major. Taken using a Takahashi TOA-150 telescope and an FLI ML11002-C camera.
Other Names/Objects NGC3031 (M81) and NGC3034 (M82)
Optics Takahashi TOA-150 f/7.33 triplet apochromatic refractor
Mount Software Bisque Paramount ME II
Camera FLI MicroLine KAI-11002-C at -25°C
Exposure 120 minutes (12 x 10 minutes)
Calibration 24 darks | 0 flats | 0 flat darks | 0 bias
Air Temperature 58°F
Accessories Takahashi 67 Field Flattener
Autoguided with SBIG ST-i camera and Takahashi FS-60 telescope
Location CaliforniaStars Observatory in Landers, California
Date January 28, 2017
Notes M82 (left) and M81 (right) are two galaxies in Ursa Major. They present opposing views of galaxies; one edge-on and the other nearly face-on. Before the advent of large, modern telescopes and the measuring of Doppler shifts, galaxies such as these were thought to be nebula within our own galaxy. It turns out that these two galaxies are a little under 12 million light years from our own galaxy—fairly close by universal standards but far from being part of the Milky Way.

Processing: TheSkyX for acquisition. MaxIm DL Pro v6 for calibrate, Bayer CFA interpolation, register, and combine. Photoshop CC for curves, levels, sharpen, saturation, resize and JPG compression.

Read more on my SoCalAstroPhoto blog.

Larger Versions:
2400 x 1600 (~2.0 MB)