M101, THE PINWHEEL GALAXY (NGC 5457)
PLUS SPIRAL GALAXY NGC 5477
"LRGB" image taken 1/16/07 and 1/17/07 (click on image for larger size):
Image acquisition and processing details:
| Telescope: | William Optics Zenithstar 105mm APO refractor, f/5.6 with 0.8 FR/FF. |
| Mount: | Celestron CGE, remotely controlled with NexRemote. |
| Camera: | SBIG ST-10XME cooled to -30C, internal guiding. All images binned 1x1. |
| Filters, Exposure Times: | AstroDon Lum 155 min (31x5), Red/Green/Blue 120 min each filter (12x5 + 6x10 each). Additional data was obtained but discarded. |
| Dates: | 1/16/07 and 1/17/07. |
| Moon Phase: | 9% on 1/16, 4% on 1/17/07. |
| Location: | Xanadu Observatory, Backyard in Tucson, AZ |
| Software: | MaximDL, TheSky, CCDInspector, CCDStack, Adobe Photoshop |
| Notes: | Taken during record cold temperatures in Tucson (~20 degrees Fahrenheit). I rotated the camera 90 degrees on the second night, so the combine process required some cropping of the image. There are many tiny galaxies in this image. |