 |
M81 in Ursa Major
|
Copyright 2007 Hap Griffin
M81, also known as Bode's Galaxy, is a spectacular example of what is known as a
"grand design" spiral galaxy. It's prominent spiral structure
with rich star forming regions, showing here as blue due to the abundance of hot
young stars, is a result of a strong gravitational influence with another nearby
spiral galaxy, M82.
If your monitor is correctly adjusted, you should be able to make out a faint
bluish smudge to the left of the galaxy. This is M81's satellite, the
irregular galaxy Holmberg IX...very faint at magnitude 16.5 and rarely
imaged.
M81 lies at a distance of 12 million light-years.
Date/Location:
December 5, 2007 Griffin/Hunter
Observatory Bethune, SC
Instrument: Canon 40D Digital SLR (modified) through F/4.7
10" Newtonian w/ Baader MPCC
Focal Ratio: F/4.7
Guiding: Auto via Orion ED-80 w/ SBIG ST-237
Conditions: Mostly clear with passing clouds
Weather: 35 deg. F
Exposure: 256 minutes total @ ISO 800 (86 x 3 min exposures)
Filters: Baader UV/IR Block internal to camera
Processing: Focused and captured with Breeze Systems
DSLRControl Pro.
RAW to TIFF conversion, frame calibration, alignment and stacking, Digital Development,
Adaptive Richardson_Lucy deconvolution, scaling and JPEG conversion with ImagesPlus
v3. Tweaking with Photoshop CS2.