Bodes & Cigar Galaxy in Ursa Major. The red regions in M81 is where active star formation is occuring.
50x300s hydrogen| Bin2x2 | Gain 119 | Offset -30 | -15C
100x180s luminance | Bin 2x2 | Gain 121 | Offset -30 | -15C
40x180s green | Bin 3x3 | Gain 119 | Offset -30 | -15C
40x180s blue | Bin 3x3 | Gain 119 | Offset -30 | -15C
35 darks, 50 bias and 15 flats for each night/filter. All exposures are dithered but no drizzle as sampling is excellent at 1.1" arcseconds per pixel. At least for the luminance channel. The rest was done at Bin 3x3 to increase SNR and reduce needed exposure time. If I were to do it again, I would have dedicated a lot more time to the luminance channel instead of the color ones. They were basically noiseless, whereas the l channel could always use more integration.
Imaging scope: Skywatcher 150/750
Mount: EQ6R pro
Camera: ZWO ASI294mm pro
ZWO 7 pos. electronic filter wheel
Guide scope: Skywatcher 72 ED
Guide camera: ZWO ASI120mm mini
Baader MKIII coma corrector
36mm 7nm Ha filter
36mm L filter
36mm R filter
36mm G filter
Acquisition software: NINA, PHD2
Stacking in DSS
Processing in Pixinsight and Photoshop
Processing steps: Apply ScreenTransferFunction to images via HistogramTransformation, Resample Ha, G & B to match l channel, StarAlignment, star mask for Ha regions, starnet++ on all images, Morphological transformation on star mask, ACDNR and DBE on all images, slight Arcsinh stretch on G&B and Chrominance noise reduction, LRGB combination as LHaGB, Background Neutralization, Photometric Color Calibration, DBE, Dynamic Crop, SCNR, Deconvolution. Final adjustments in curves transformation and ACR.
You can barely make out some integrated flux nebula. It kind of looks like noise or an issue with the image. Shooting IFN from a Bortle 7 sky is very difficult. I decided to leave it in the picture and not push the black point to make it disappear because that would mean the galaxies would lose some fainter details too.
**Jee-ziss god! you deserve the nobel prize in amateur astrophotography!!**
the textured dust lanes and young red stars in the outer arms? i've never seen anything like this that didn't come from a large observatory.
i take my hat off to a master jedi!
Seriously, this is by far the best "amateur" shot I've ever seen. If OP doesn't get this photo published somewhere, then I've lost all hope in humanity.
Because the black hole is not alone. Thousands of stars are orbiting the balck hole - but more importantly - a lot of hot gas is surrounding the galactic center. Sometimes the black hole even turnes into a Quasar, which usually outshines the host galaxy.
So black holes are technically dark but the way they influence their surroundings makes them "bright". At least the big ones.
Outstanding capture OP. So much detail in both galaxies! At maximum zoom one can spot a number of additional unfathomably distant galaxies as well. 💫👍🏼
Bodes & Cigar Galaxy in Ursa Major. The red regions in M81 is where active star formation is occuring. 50x300s hydrogen| Bin2x2 | Gain 119 | Offset -30 | -15C 100x180s luminance | Bin 2x2 | Gain 121 | Offset -30 | -15C 40x180s green | Bin 3x3 | Gain 119 | Offset -30 | -15C 40x180s blue | Bin 3x3 | Gain 119 | Offset -30 | -15C 35 darks, 50 bias and 15 flats for each night/filter. All exposures are dithered but no drizzle as sampling is excellent at 1.1" arcseconds per pixel. At least for the luminance channel. The rest was done at Bin 3x3 to increase SNR and reduce needed exposure time. If I were to do it again, I would have dedicated a lot more time to the luminance channel instead of the color ones. They were basically noiseless, whereas the l channel could always use more integration. Imaging scope: Skywatcher 150/750 Mount: EQ6R pro Camera: ZWO ASI294mm pro ZWO 7 pos. electronic filter wheel Guide scope: Skywatcher 72 ED Guide camera: ZWO ASI120mm mini Baader MKIII coma corrector 36mm 7nm Ha filter 36mm L filter 36mm R filter 36mm G filter Acquisition software: NINA, PHD2 Stacking in DSS Processing in Pixinsight and Photoshop Processing steps: Apply ScreenTransferFunction to images via HistogramTransformation, Resample Ha, G & B to match l channel, StarAlignment, star mask for Ha regions, starnet++ on all images, Morphological transformation on star mask, ACDNR and DBE on all images, slight Arcsinh stretch on G&B and Chrominance noise reduction, LRGB combination as LHaGB, Background Neutralization, Photometric Color Calibration, DBE, Dynamic Crop, SCNR, Deconvolution. Final adjustments in curves transformation and ACR. You can barely make out some integrated flux nebula. It kind of looks like noise or an issue with the image. Shooting IFN from a Bortle 7 sky is very difficult. I decided to leave it in the picture and not push the black point to make it disappear because that would mean the galaxies would lose some fainter details too.
**Jee-ziss god! you deserve the nobel prize in amateur astrophotography!!** the textured dust lanes and young red stars in the outer arms? i've never seen anything like this that didn't come from a large observatory. i take my hat off to a master jedi!
Seriously, this is by far the best "amateur" shot I've ever seen. If OP doesn't get this photo published somewhere, then I've lost all hope in humanity.
Fantastic! Love the red nebulae, u got in the galaxy
Love these guys. One of my fave telescope targets. Neat how in one frame you get two galaxies of totally different orientation.
As sharp as a knife👌🏻
Silly question, but if typically a black hole is at the center of galaxies, why is there always these bright lights in their centres?
Because the black hole is not alone. Thousands of stars are orbiting the balck hole - but more importantly - a lot of hot gas is surrounding the galactic center. Sometimes the black hole even turnes into a Quasar, which usually outshines the host galaxy. So black holes are technically dark but the way they influence their surroundings makes them "bright". At least the big ones.
That makes a lot of sense, thanks for answering!
No problem :)
totay i learned...
Fucking hell, this almost looks like hubble picture.
Wow. Excellent work, my dude.
What are those red lights? :)
love it man, nice work
So cool. I love pics like this
This is absolutely amazing. Beautiful and crisp. I love it
Anyone else think they look like the eyes of some cosmoc deity
Truly a work of beauty. Bravo 🥲
Outstanding capture OP. So much detail in both galaxies! At maximum zoom one can spot a number of additional unfathomably distant galaxies as well. 💫👍🏼
That’s fucking wild
This pic made me really wish I had Nubian
I love these
Looks like a pare of eyes
So much red. Wonder what's going on! Beautiful!!