Bode's Galaxy & Cigar Galaxy
M81 & M82
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’
