(Image information courtesy of Wikipedia):
Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away, with a diameter of 90,000 light years, which makes it only slightly smaller than our own Milky Way galaxy.  M81 is located in the constellation Ursa Major. Due to its proximity to our galaxy, its large size, and active galactic nucleus (which harbors a 70 million M_☉^[5] supermassive black hole), Messier 81 has been studied extensively by professional astronomers. The galaxy's large size and relatively high brightness also makes it a popular target for amateur astronomers.

In this image, multiple smaller galaxies are visible, including some PGC very remote galaxies, as well as two dwarf galaxies in orbit around and gravitationally bound to M81 (the small, faint "smudges" just to the left of the main spiral and at bottom center of image).  It is estimated that M81 contains at least 210 Globular Clusters.

Image Details:

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  • Instrument: Stellarvue SV130EDT Triplet APO Refractor @ f/7(905mm) focal length, with Teleskop Service TS 2,5 Field Flattener lens.
  • Mount:  Rainbow Astro RST-135 Mount in EQ Mode R
  • Image Scale:  1.08 arc-seconds/pixel
  • Camera: ASI071MC Pro Color Cooled One-Shot Camera with Lumicon IR/Cutoff Filter
  • Guide and Imaging Interface: ASI290MM guide camera and ZWO Off-Axis Guider, ASIAir Plus Controller, ZWO EAF Auto-Focuser.
  • Filters & Exposure Times:  RAW format 16-bit Light frames.  IR/Cutoff filter was used:  230 sub-frames x 3 minutes each, binned 1x1 for a total exposure time of 11.5 hours.
  • Processing software: PPixInsight, using a combination of the ChaoticNebula.com and Adam Block workflows.
  • Location: Little Rock, AR., El. 537ft
  • Date: Image Acquisition January 30th-February 4th, 2022

© Wade Van Arsdale
2/07/2022

Earlier Version From 2008

Image Details:

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  • Instrument: TMB 152 Triplet APO Refractor @ f/7.9 (1200mm) focal length
  • Mount: AP-1200GTO
  • Image Scale:  1.6 arc-seconds/pixel after processing
  • Filters & Exposure Times:  
    • L:   18 x 5 minutes binned 1x1
    • R:   18 x 5 minutes binned 2x2
      G:   9 x 5 minutes binned 2x2
      B:   9 x 5 minutes binned 2x2
  • Camera: SBIG ST-2000XM, CF8WA Color Filter Wheel, AO-8 Adaptive Optics
  • Software: Maxim DL/CCD, Adobe Photoshop, RC Astro Gradient X-Terminator, Neat Image Pro
  • Location: Little Rock, AR., El. 650ft
  • Date: June 22nd, 2008