Bode's Galaxy & Cigar Galaxy

Bolton skies are what they are, and we also had to deal with a ~76% illuminated moon. The temperature was around -3°C, wind 3-5km/h, 85% relative humidty.

For us this was a first for a number of reasons:

• First picture of the Bode’s Galaxy & Cigar Galaxy
• Never before have we been able to geather 5h21m exposure on a single subject :) The tech worked really well on this one and we only had to discard 3 of the 110 images; 2 due to wind/guiding error and 1 because of a satellite.
• First time imaging from our rooftop. Tight spot, obstructed views, but … warm sofa. So far we like this trade-off :P As a bonus, this location is mostly protected from the West winds.
• Also, we tested the new guiding scope rings & dovetail that was 3D printed by a friend for us (see below). If you have a Synta 9x50 finder and fancy one these then let us know.

Telescope	Skywatcher 200PDS (200/1000 Newton)
Filter	IDAS D2 (multi-bandpass light pollution filter)
Coma corrector	Skywatcher f/5 (0.9x focal reducer)
Camera	Canon 7D Mark II (APS-C)
Resolution	1556x1170 (scaled & cropped)
Light frames	100/107 (best fwhm), 180s @ ISO 400, 5h in total
Dark frames	16 (180s)
Bias frames	20 (1/8000s)
Flat frames	26 (1/50s)
Location	Bolton, UK
Local time	2020-12-24 23:09 - 06:10 (including a meridian flip!)

As for the satellite(?) that photobombed frame 110, we could not identify it, possibly not in the public database. Any guesses?

• Image center: RA 9h 54’ 54”, DEC 69° 17’ 32”
• FOV: 1° 25’ 16” x 56’ 56” (rotated +134.42°)
• Location: Bolton, UK
• Time: 2020-12-25 06:11-06:14 GMT
• Trail center is roughly at RA 9h 49’, DEC 12° 29’

• messier