| Camera |
Canon 20Da |
| Date |
24 June 2006 |
| Description |
Charles Messier is credited with
discovering this galaxy (M51) in October 1773. You can find it
in a telescope by looking a bit below the last star in
the handle of the big dipper. Actually, two galaxies are
shown and it is thought that the spiral structure of the
large galaxy results from the interaction of the two
galaxies. The pair is roughly 30 million light years
away. You might be able to see a dim galaxy in the lower
left of the picture (it appears as a small vertical
smudge). |
| Processing |
This is my first picture through my new
AP 160 telescope. I used an ST4 autoguider connected to
the TV85, piggybacked on top of the AP 160 to guide the
Losmandy G11 mount. Eight pictures of 4 minutes each
were
aligned, combined and contrast enhanced in ImagesPlus.
The Losmandy G11 mount is rated for about 60 lbs. The
mount had about 70 lbs on it for this picture! Pretty
impressive performance for an overloaded mount. |
|
