Bode’s and Cigar Galaxies and Friends
About 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major, you’ll find Bode’s Galaxy (M81), a large spiral galaxy, and is it’s nearby neighbor, the famous Cigar Galaxy. You’ll also see NGC 3077 and NGC 2976, two smaller galaxies that are also in the same area and are thought to be gravitationally linked to M81 and M82.
January 29, 2025
This is the combined image of M81 and M82 using both RGB data from the Antlia Triband filter, and narrowband data from the Antlia ALP-T Dual Band Ha and Oiii filter. Overall, I’m pretty happy with how this turned out, especially given the amount of integration time required for a two panel mosaic. Essentially, I needed to do two, two-panel mosaics: one for the RGB data and one for the narrowband data. Rather than attempting pure continuum subtraction, I opted to blend the narrowband (processed in a Foraxx palette) and RGB data 50/50. The RGB data alone creates a very nice image, but the narrowband data really helps the nebulosity in each galaxy pop (especially the hydrogen alpha signal in the cigar galaxy.)
I’m a little disappointed that I wasn’t able to capture much of the IFN around this area that I know is there… but this target is toward a very light polluted portion of the sky for me, so I would probably need at least 5x he integration time to see any of it. Ultimately, the focus for me on this project was to highlight the nebulosity, keep the galaxies looking reasonably natural, and I think I accomplished that well enough this time around. Perhaps on some future rainy day I may revisit processing this one!
Now that I’ve wrapped up this project, I’m looking forward to diving into the next one!
Technical Details
Imaging Telescope: Orion Optics UK Ideal 8
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro
Filter: Antlia Tri-band RGB Ultra Filter - 2” Mounted; Antlia ALP-T Dual Band 5nm 2”
Accessories: ZWO ASIAIR Plus, ZWO EAF, ZWO Filter Drawer (Gen 2), Antlia OAG with Filter Drawer
Software: PixInsight, Starnet, BlurXterminator, GraXpert, SetiAstro Automatic DBE, SetiAstro Statistical Stretch, SetiAstro Continuum Subtraction Utility
Guiding Telescope: SVBony SV106 60mm Guide Scope
Guiding Camera: ZWO ASI174MM
Imaging Dates: January 13-14 and 27-28, 2025
Frames (gain 101.0) f/4.9 -10c: 310x180” (15.5h) Dual Band; 340x180” (17h) Triband
Integration Time: 32.5h
Darks/Flats/Dark Flats: 60/60/60
Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 6.00
March 2, 2024
Last night I was able to spend some time imaging the region of interacting galaxies in Ursa Major, predominantly defined by Bode’s and Cigar Galaxies. As you can see, the wide field of view from my current telescope limits the amount of detail I can capture, on these objects, but some day I do plan to add a longer focal length telescope to my arsenal so I can better capture these objects in more detail.
Technical Details
Imaging Telescope: William Optics RedCat 51 II
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro
Filter: Antlia Tri-band RGB Ultra Filter - 2” Mounted
Accessories: ZWO ASIAIR Plus, ZWO EAF, ZWO Filter Drawer (Gen 2)
Software: Siril, Starnet, Photoshop, NoiseXterminator
Guiding Telescope: William Optics UniGuide 32
Guiding Camera: ZWO ASI174MM
Imaging Dates: Mar. 1, 2024
Frames (gain 101.0) f/4.9 -10c: 60x120” (2h)
Integration Time: 2h
Darks/Flats/Dark Flats: 30/30/30
Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 6.00