(Click on image for full size version)
| Description: | The Whirlpool Galaxy is the brighter member of
this pair with NGC5195 being the galaxy to the right (north). At a
distance of 37 million light years, M51 is
thought to have
acquired its pronounced spiral shape from its current interaction with its
neighbor, NGC5195. |
| Exposure Data: | 5/6/2003. LRGB: 18x10m, 3x10m, 3x10m, 3x10m. RGB binned 2x2.
-10°C, 0.49 arc-sec./pixel. |
| Processing: | Acquired via Sequencer in Maxim, reduced and
aligned in Mira. double size, Sigma Reject combine, gradient removal and RGB combine in Maxim. Lum
20 iterations of RL in AIP4WIN. LRGB assembly and other adjustments in Photoshop. |
| Optical System: | 12.5” Ritchey-Chretien @ F/9, ST-10XME NABG/CFW-8A
CCD camera, Paramount ME. Luminance AO7 guided, RGB autoguided. |
| Comments: | Didn't get enough color date before the clouds
rolled in. Compare to
this version at 1.0 arc-sec/pixel taken a year ago. |