M81 and M82

April 23, 20191 min read

M81 and M82 are two galaxies that are about 12 million light-years away from us and 300,000 light-years between them. They met about 250 million years ago, causing a “starburst” effect, thas is a significant increase of star formation. A dense network of hydrogen filaments connects the two galaxies and feeds the new stars.

Shooting data

– HA+RGB composition
– 168 300″ light frames at -20°C (RGB l-pro filter)
– 27 300″ light frames at -20°C (HA 7nm filter)
– 21 dark/bias/flat
– ASI 294MC pro camera
– Skywatcher AZEQ6
– Skywatcher 200/1000 PDS

Frames captured between 18th of april 2019 and 22nd of april 2019 in my backyard

Postproduction made with PixInsight for image stacking and Photoshop/Camera raw for the color balancing and noise reduction.

The image is a mosaic made of two panels, one for M81 and one for m82. Only M82 has HA data added.