ScienceDownEast | ScienceDownEast Astrophotography | Galaxies | M081 Bodes Galaxy and M082 Cigar Galaxy | M81+M82 Cropped

M81, Bodes Galaxy and M82, the Cigar Galaxy . M82 was discovered, along with its neighbor M81, by the German astronomer Johann Elert Bode in 1774. Located 12 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major, M82 has an apparent magnitude of 8.4

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Total image time was 2.3 hours.

Exposure	7x20 min.
GAIN	100
Camera	ToupTek ATR2600C [6224 x 4168]
Optics	120mm Skywatcher Esprit on a Proxisky UMi20S Strain Wave mount
Guiding	ToupTek GPM462M using Phd2
Controller	Kstars on MeLe Quieter 3C
Filter	Triad Quad Ultra
Location	Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia.
Date	2025-02-05
Processing	Processed in PixInsight.	GraXpert Background Neutralization SpectrophotometricColourCalibration BlurXTerminator NoiseXTerminator Statistical Stretch StarXTerminator In the starless image: HDRMultiScaleTransform Mask creation Extract CIE L* component to create the mask Apply it to the starless image CurvesTransformation on the starless image - apply Saturation PixelMath recombination ~((~stars)*(~starless))

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