M51 - the Whirlpool Galaxy

Got a couple of clear nights with relatively little smoke so I decided to image the famous Whirlpool galaxy. I haven't taken a new image of M51 since back in 2014, when I just got started in astrophotography with my new EdgeHD11. I used a Canon 50D for that one.  So I figured it was about time I captured it with my upgraded equipment and new processing tools and skills.

As usual, sky conditions this year have been abysmal, and even when the sky was clear, the smoke from Canada usually played games with my imaging. But I did manage to get some decent skies on June 14 and 18, so went for it.  Turns out that the blue subs had some issues with registration (seems that happens a lot with my objects/subs - gotta check into that). But I decided to process with just the 19 blue subs since the weather isn't going to cooperate any time soon.

Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)
June 14 and 18, 2023 - EdgeHD11 and ASI2600mm 
LRGB - Total Integration time: 6h48m

The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a (M51a) or NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. It is between 23 and 31 million light-years away and 76,900 ly in diameter.

The galaxy and its companion, NGC 5195 (reddish galaxy to the left), are easily observed by amateur astronomers, and the two galaxies may be seen with binoculars. The Whirlpool Galaxy has been extensively observed by professional astronomers, and its pair with NGC 5195 who study it to understand galaxy structure (particularly structure associated with the spiral arms) and galaxy interactions. Its pair with NGC 5194 is among the most famous and relatively close interacting systems, and thus is a favorite subject of galaxy interaction models. (Wiki)

The Cat's Eye Nebula

Yesterday I promised that I would upload my latest image, the Cat's Eye nebula, and so here it is (with the off-color NB stars - I'll reprocess with RGB stars later when I acquire them).

NGC 6543 - the Cat's Eye Planetary Nebula
EdgeHD11/ASI2600mm - 42x600sec Ha; 43x600sec O3
14 hours integration time May 31, June 2 and June 5, 2023 

This is the famous Cat's Eye nebula, a remarkable planetary nebula (PN) located in the constellation of Draco the dragon. It was discovered by William Herschel on February 15, 1786. It resides at an  estimated distance of 3,262 light years from earth. The inner core is about 16 arc sec in diameter, which at it's current distance would make it about 0.25LY wide. Images from the Hubble telescope made this object a subject of popular review when they showed the central core of the nebula in exquisite detail, revealing knots, jets, bubbles and complex arcs, all being illuminated by the central hot planetary nebula nucleus. My image shows the surrounding outer halo (about 4.7LY in diameter) in the HOO NB color palette. Both the central WR:+O7 spectral class PNN star and the concentric rings surrounding the inner core can be plainly seen. Based on both the estimated distance and the expansion rate the age of this PN is about 800-1200 years old.

The image was composed of 42 Ha subs and 43 O3 subs, each 600 seconds of exposure. Since the nucleus of the nebula is so very bright (shining at magnitude 8) the 600 seconds really washed out the core and so I had to carefully process the image with a High Definition layer routine to bring out some of the internal detail and reduce the overall intensity.  There is evidence of some processing artifacts present, but adding more data later will probably resolve that issue.  I had also planned to capture RGB stars to replace the NB stars, but between the full moon and the smoke drifting into Maryland from the Canadian fires I had to forgo those and settle on the NB stars. I hope to replace them with RGB stars when I capture more data of this wonderful object.

Smoke in Maryland - And a Feature Article on Your's Truly

Here it is - Monday evening; clear sky, cool temps, low humidity. What more can you ask for? Should be a great night to capture the RGB stars I need for my latest project. But, where are the stars? And what's with Venus, so pink and dim, when it should be brilliant white. Why smoke, of course! Yep, the Canadian fires are filling our skies with a fairly thick haze of smoke. So no imaging tonight. I'll probably process the subs I got of the Cat's Eye nebula without the colored stars. Maybe I'll capture them later and add them in at a later date. I'll post the image later this week.

On another note ... back in March, Photonic Cleaning Technologies, a company that developed a polymer cleaning solution used by professional observatories and industrial optical organizations, contacted me after I had a conversation with one of the owner/engineers about using their First Contact Polymer to clean my telescope optics. We had a great talk about astronomy and astrophotography, and it was soon after that conversation that Debra Giesen emailed me about publishing an article about my hobby on their website. Of course I jumped on the opportunity and started writing the first draft. All I needed to do is agree to include a short  testimony on how I liked the Polymer cleaner. Not only would the article be posted on their website, but would be a feature article in the June edition of Amateur Astrophotography Magazine.

Well, things didn't go all that well. The owner/creator/manager of Amateur Astrophotography Magazine is temporarily suspending future publishing until early next year as he deals with some medical issues. He is confident that the magazine will be back in operation in early 2024 and I will be first on the publication list. But the article, "Astrophotography from Light Polluted Reisterstown" is posted on the Photonic Cleaning Technologies website. Check it out.