June 21 2015
Pinwheel Galaxy
Nikon D610 + Skywatcher ED80
Skywatcher EQ-3 Synscan + Orion Autoguider
10 minutes x 3 @ iso 1600
Stacked in DeepSkyStacker
The Pinwheel Galaxy or Messier 101 is a spiral galaxy located at the constellation of Ursa Major, where the well known Big Dipper lies. During summer months, M101 is almost directly overhead . This image was taken at Cypress Hills Dark Sky Preserve without the use of any filters. I have tried using a UHC-S filter for this object but the resulting image was too dim even in dark skies. Imaging this faint galaxy under light polluted skies is almost impossible. You will like just get a blob of light, it's faint spiral arms will be extremely hard to resolve. A ten minute exposure @ISO 1600, the spiral arms became visible. Stacking three 10 minute exposure and more details can be seen. I am only limited by my telescope size as an 80mm scope is not really designed for targets this faint.
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