M101 the mighty “Pinwheel” galaxy

One of the most impressive galaxies in Ursa Major, M101 is well-known to most observers, and can already be detected with binoculars.

This picture was taken under the dark skies of Grandpré, La Talma, in Northern France. SQM Values varied during the three capture nights between 21,20 and 21,40.

With the large Dobsonian telescopes (16″ to 20″) many details also visible in this picture could be detected.

In full 100% view (the original sensor resolution), many many small galaxies van be seen in the background. Most of the weakest ones are 20th to 21th magnitude.

Click on the image for a larger view!

M81 and M82 the night of January 5th

Image of 3hrs and 38m taken in subs of 1 and 2 minutes.

Esprit 120, ASI2600MC Gain 100, F7, EQ8 ; stacked in AstroPixelProcessor and developed in Photoshop.

The sky was very foggy, sqm around 20,15.

When scanning for little galaxies, several very small galaxies were identified using SIMBAD at apparent magnitudes below 20. As an example:

2MASS J09533544+6908169Type: IR<10um
Mag: 20.62

M81 and M82 on January 5th (first processing)

Second processing
Third processing

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