M81 Bode's Galaxy
Bode’s Galaxy, also known as M81, is a spiral galaxy 12 million light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major.
Some astrophotographer friends and I went to a site known as “Antenna Site” out in the desert 90 miles west of Phoenix. This location is very dark with excellent skies. Skies to the east are a bit polluted from Phoenix but the remainder of the sky is very dark and near bortle 1 conditions. There were thin high clouds that came through a couple times but generally was pretty clear with excellent seeing.
I focused on collecting luminance data at Antenna Site because of its darkness. A trip the following weekend to Picketpost Mountain net me the the RGB data needed to finish the image.
If you look closely at the image below, you can see Holmberg IX, a dwarf irregular satellite galaxy of M81. It has an apparent magnitude of 16.5 and the fact it is in the image is a testament to how dark Antenna Site really is!
Gear
| Telescope | Orion Optics UK ODK12 |
| Mount | 10Micron GM1000HPS |
| Imaging Camera | QHY163M |
| Guide Camera | QHY5III178 |
| Filter Wheel | QHYCFW2 |
| Filters | Baader L, R, G, B 36mm unmounted |
| Focuser | FT3015B-A |
Shot Details
| Automation Software | Sequence Generator Pro |
| Image Processing | PixInsight |
| Guiding | None |
| L | 75 x 120sec at -10°C |
| R | 30 x 120sec at -10°C |
| G | 30 x 120sec at -10°C |
| B | 30 x 120sec at -10°C |
| Total Integration | 5.5 hours |
| Gain | 120 |
| Offset | 70 |
| Ambient | 5°C |
| Moon | 0% |
| Bortle | 1 and 3 |
| Location | Superior, AZ; Salome, AZ |