Unveiling hidden features in M51 using 255hours

The Best Image of M51 You Will Ever See - 255-Hour Collaboration!

Image Title: Unveiling hidden features in M51 using 255hours

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Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkES2ltGSoc

Date image was taken: August 08, 2023

Image Description and Details : The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51, is a galaxy located in the constellation Canes Venatici. It lies at a distance of about 23 million light years and spans about 80,000 ly in diameter. M51 is quite a popular target among astrophotographers because it has very distinctive spiral arms which were first discovered by William Parson in 1845, which also makes it the first object where spiral arms were detected.

Another unique attribute of this galaxy is the tidal current which manifests itself even at low integration times. The full extent of the tidal stream, on the other hand, is rarely shown, which is also part of the reason we started this project, in the end we were able to reveal even the faintest parts of it. These currents are the result of the tidal interaction between M51a (the big one) and M51b (the little one). So in fact M51 can be seen as two galaxies rather than one.

After our big project on the M81/82 galaxy pair, our team wanted to continue the cooperation - together we decided that M51 would be our next target. As some people could not contribute this time, new ones joined and our group for M51 is now composed of 16 people: 1 Editor and 15 photographers.

Telescope

Askar FRA600 · Celestron C9.25 SC XLT · Sky-Watcher Esprit 150ED · Sky-Watcher Explorer 200PDS · Sky-Watcher Explorer 250PDS · Sky-Watcher Quattro 200P · Sky-Watcher Quattro 250P / 10-S · Stellarvue SVX130T · Tecnosky RC8 Carbon · TPO 8" f/4 Newtonian · TS-Optics 250mm/10" ONTC f/4 Newtonian (carbon tube) · William Optics Fluorostar 132 / FLT132

Camera

QHYCCD QHY163M · QHYCCD QHY600PH M · RisingCam ATR3-26000KMA · ZWO ASI1600MM COOL · ZWO ASI2600MC Pro · ZWO ASI2600MM Pro · ZWO ASI294MC Pro · ZWO ASI294MM Pro · ZWO ASI533MM Pro · ZWO ASI6200MM Pro

Filters

Chroma Blue 36 mm · Chroma Green 36 mm · Chroma H-alpha 5nm Bandpass 36 mm · Chroma Lum 36 mm · Chroma Red 36 mm

Unit pictures

Chroma Blue 36 mm: 542×128,94″(19h 24′ 45″ .48)

Chroma Green 36 mm: 594×148,64″(24h 31′ 32″ .16)

Chroma H-alpha 5nm Bandpass 36 mm: 1048×407,6″(118h 39′ 24″ .8)

Chroma Lum 36 mm: 1806×137,44″(68h 56′ 56″ .64)

Chroma Red 36 mm: 597×140,58″(23h 18′ 46″ .26)

Integration:

254h 51′ 25″ .34

Thanks,

Clear Sky

List of contributors The Deep Sky Collective

Carl Björk - @Palmito

Thomas Bähnck - www.newhorizonobs.de

Sebastian Donoso - @georgian82

Jake Gentillon - @jake_g

Antoine et Dalia Grelin - www.galactic-hunter.com

Stephen Guberski - @Stephen Guberski

Richard Hall - @Richard

Tino Heuberger - @ RononDex

Jason Jacks -@jmdl101

Paul Kent - @pkastronomy (Instagram)

Brian Meyers - @Brian M.

William Ostling - @William Ostling

Nicolas Puig - @Nicolas PUIG

Tim Schaeffer - @Tim Schaeffer

Felix Schöfbänker - @SomeAstroStuff

Mikhail Vasilev - @Mikhail Vasilev

Copyright: Deep Sky Collective