A pair of galaxies almost 12 million light-years from Earth. Bode (right) is a spiral, and its gravity is causing high rates of star formation in the irregularly-shaped Cigar (left). Their official names are M81 and M82.
Askar 130PHQ: January 2024
This latest attempt is part of my review for the Optolong L-Quad Enhance filter. It’s only 6 hours 24 minutes of data, taken in a single night, but isn’t too bad!
Click here for a processing tutorial based on this image.
Imaging details
* 17-18 January 2024 (one night)
* Bristol, UK (Bortle 8)
* Telescope: Askar 130PHQ Flatfield Astrograph
* Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC-PRO
* Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R PRO
* Guide: William Optics 50mm Guidescope with 1.25″ RotoLock; ZWO ASI 120MM Mini
* Control: ASIAIR Plus
* Software: PixInsight, Lightroom
* Filters:
– Optolong L-Quad Enhance 192 x 120 seconds (6 hours 24 minutes)
Total integration time: 6 hours 24 minutes
By Lee Pullen
Askar 130PHQ: April 2023
I’ve imaged this part of galaxies before using my wide-field Askar FRA400, but wanted to have a try using my much larger Askar 130PHQ. The weather was a lot better than during my previous project, NGC 7822, and I was able to collect 20 hours of data over two weeks.
At first glance the result from my old and new telescopes are very similar (scroll down the original FRA400 post), but differences can definitely be seen if you zoom in a little:
Still, I’m continually impressed by the Askar FRA400’s performance, especially considering it costs under 1/3 the price of its big brother!
Back to this latest attempt then, and I’m quite happy with the level of detail that I managed to glean through the thick haze of city light pollution. I probably should have gathered some Hydrogen-Alpha data using my Optolong L-Ultimate, given how much there is swirling about in these galaxies. A mono camera with a Hydrogen-Alpha filter would be even more efficient.
If you look above M81 (the more spiral of the two), you’ll see a strange object. In the FRA400 / 130PHQ comparison, it appears I was heavy-handed in my FRA400 processing and wiped it out; but it’s visible through the 130PHQ. This is actually Holmberg IX, a young dwarf galaxy orbiting M81. Thanks to Jane Clark from the Cardiff Astronomical Society for spotting this and identifying it for me!
Imaging details
* April 2023 (2 weeks)
* Bristol, UK (Bortle 8)
* Telescope: Askar 130PHQ Flatfield Astrograph
* Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC-PRO
* Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R PRO
* Guide: William Optics 50mm Guidescope with 1.25″ RotoLock; ZWO ASI 120MM Mini
* Control: ASIAIR Plus
* Software: PixInsight, Lightroom
* Filters:
– No filter 600 x 120 seconds (20 hours)
Total integration time: 20 hours
By Lee Pullen
Example source data
Askar FRA400
Version 2, reprocessed December 2022
From the Reprocessing Bonanza 2022. This version uses exactly the same data as version 1, but with better processing tools and skills. Not a night-and-day difference but certainly an improvement in noise levels and sharpness. The core of M81 is better controlled, too:
Askar FRA400
Version 1, April 2021
This was a tough target to shoot, and not really suited to a wide-field refractor telescope. The high levels of light pollution also made it really difficult to get much detail in the galaxies. Still, I wanted to give it a go, and ended up combining data taken using an IDAS LPS-P3 taken as part of my light pollution filter experiment to get the total integration time up to 24 hours. Even with that I think it falls short, although the spiral arms in the Bode Galaxy (on the left) don’t look too bad.
I’ll return to these if I ever move to the countryside to escape the city lights. Until then, I reckon this is as good as I can get!
* April 2021
* Bristol, UK (Bortle 8)
* Telescope: Askar FRA400 f/5.6 Quintuplet APO Astrograph
* Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC-PRO
* Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G
* Guide: William Optics 32mm; ZWO ASI 120MM Mini
* Software: PixInsight, Photoshop, Lightroom
* Control: ASIAIR PRO
* 420 x 120 seconds (IDAS LPS-P3 Light Pollution Suppression Filter) & 300 x 120 seconds (no filter)
Total integration time: 24 hours
By Lee Pullen
Example source data
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I’m new to astronomy, I was never a person concerned with the fascination out there as I was my planet earth. But M81 is a subject I’m deeply wanting to know more about. Can you send me a site or article on everything regarding m81 please. Thank you and thank you for your detailed observations and photography
It’s an interesting target! Here’s a good article, but there’s much more online if you search. https://www.universetoday.com/47054/messier-81-1/
Hi – I just shot this pair for the first time two nights ago. I’m still processing and editing, but I wanted to search for examples to compare with, and I came across yours. They’re very nice, and I like the “before and after” comparisons. I also like your choice not to over-saturate the colors; that’s my preference as well.
One small note: I believe you reversed your “left” and “right” designations for M81 and M82 at the very top of the page.
Bruce
Thanks Bruce, and well spotted about my mistake!