M51 · WHIRLPOOL GALAXY APR 2026
§ DEEP-SKY · TARGET
M51
Whirlpool Galaxy
- TYPE
- Spiral galaxy + companion
- CONSTELLATION
- Canes Venatici
- DISTANCE
- 23 Mly
- MAGNITUDE
- +8.4
- APPARENT SIZE
- 11' × 7'
ACQUISITION
DATE
Apr 2026
LOCATION
Anza-Borrego, CA · Bortle 2
INTEGRATION
8h 00m
PALETTE
LRGB
SUBS
480 × 60s
SEEING
2.0"
FILTERS
L · R · G · B
The textbook face-on spiral, tidally interacting with NGC 5195. The bridge of stars and gas between the two is visible in deep exposures.
§ 01 · THE NIGHT
How this one came together
Galaxy season target. The small angular size demands good seeing and aggressive deconvolution. This was the first galaxy I shot with the printed scope and the tight star shapes across the field proved the optics were holding.
§ 02 · PROCESSING
Workflow
- LRGB with separate luminance deconvolution
- Spiral arm detail recovered with multiscale processing
- NGC 5195 tidal bridge enhanced via masked stretch
- Background galaxies preserved in final crop
§ 03 · GEAR
Equipment
- SCOPE
- Printed 200/800 Newt · OTA v2.0
- CAMERA
- ASI2600MM Pro · -10°C
- MOUNT
- EQ6-R Pro
- FILTERS
- Antlia LRGB
- GUIDING
- OAG · ASI120MM Mini