M82 in HαRGB

Mike Lewis

Mike Lewis

Staff Member
This dramatic edge on galaxy is M82, known as the Cigar Galaxy. It is a starburst galaxy, with intense star formation occurring at rates ~10 times higher than in our own Milky Way Galaxy. The starburst activity is thought to be from interactions with nearby M81. M82 is thought to be at a distance of approximately 12 million light years from Earth. Like many galaxies it also harbors a super massive black hole at its center.

This image is the result of 11 hours and 50 mins worth of data collected in R,G,B and Hα. Shorter exposure RGB data was added back in for the stars.

As always comments and critiques are most welcome. This pretty much catches me up with any data backlog I had due to a very productive stretch from the end of April until almost the middle of May. I have partial data on another target collected (M27, the first attempted narrowband image with this scope) but that will not be posted until I have at least a couple more good nights for data collection.

LRCC_sRGB_FW_M82_HaRGB_IS_PCC_MS-100_SXT_NXT2_CT_ArcS_PSCC_HT_LHE_WithStars_SCNR.jpg



Equipment:
ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -10C and Gain:139 Offset:21 (LRGB)
Gain:200 Offset:50 (Hα)
Software Bisque MyT Mount
Celestron EdgeHD 9.25 SCT with 0.7x reducer, 1645mm @ f/7

Software:
PHD2 Guiding Software
NINA Astroimaging Software
Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8
Software Bisque TheSkyX
Lightroom CC
Photoshop CC
Russell Croman BlurXterminator
Russell Croman StarXterminator
Russell Croman NoiseXterminator

Light Frames:
Hα: 26 x 420 secs (3 hrs 02 mins)
Red: 33 x 300 secs (2hrs 45 mins)
Red: 29 x 30 secs (14 mins 30 secs)
Green: 32 x 300 secs (2 hrs 40 mins)
Green: 29 x 30secs (14 mins 30 secs)
Blue: 32 x 300 secs (2 hrs 40 mins)
Blue: 29 x 30 secs (14 mins 30 secs)

11 hrs 50 mins 30 secstotal

Dark Frames:
10 x 420 secs, Hα (1hr 10 mins)
10 x 300 secs, RGB (50 mins)
10 x 30 secs, RGB (5 mins)

Bias Frames:
60
 
JimFox

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
That really looks great Mike! Lot's of great detail in this.

The red area that stretches out in the middle and looks like a man is so well detailed. I got it in my recent one. Probably my best capture of it, but no where near as good as this as the red in mine fades off a bit and gets lost in the background where in yours its still totally separated.
 
Mike Lewis

Mike Lewis

Staff Member
JimFox said:
That really looks great Mike! Lot's of great detail in this.

The red area that stretches out in the middle and looks like a man is so well detailed. I got it in my recent one. Probably my best capture of it, but no where near as good as this as the red in mine fades off a bit and gets lost in the background where in yours its still totally separated.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jim!

No doubt a little longer integration, plus that highly detailed mono camera Hα helps. But truly, the gap between the mono and RGB is nothing like it once was, as evidenced by your excellent image that you recently posted and refer to above. I have now worked through enough RGB data that I am starting to settle in on a workflow I like which is nice.
 
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