The Pinwheel Galaxy... M 101
(Click on Picture for larger view)


Added April 26, 2019 ...
The Northern Pinwheel Galaxy, also known as Messier 101. This galaxy is high in the north at midnight in late April near the Big Dipper in the constellation of Ursa Major. I took this with the Celestron 11" telescope at f/7 (via the 0.7X reducer lens). It is about 22 million light-years away. This large galaxy contains over a trillion stars! In comparison, our Milky Way Galaxy has about 250 billion stars and the southern Pinwheel Galaxy (M83) has about 40 billion stars. this is a 1 hr 50 min exposure.

The Techy Stuff: ... For those who want to know ...
Telescope: Celestron 11" Edge HD at f/7
0.7x Reducer lens
Mount: Celestron CGX
Mount settings: Celestron PWI V2.1.25
Polar Alignment: QHY Pole Master
Guiding: Orion StarShoot AutoGuider Pro & 60mm Scope
Guiding Software: PHD2 ... (RMS Error: 0.31 px)
Camera: Canon T7i
Settings: 120 sec at ISO 1600
Filter: None
Total sub-frames: 55
30 Dark & Bias frames
Backyard EOS 3.1
Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker at 2X Drizzle
Post processing in PixInsight & Photoshop CC
Bortle Light Pollution zone: 6.5 (Barely can see the Milky Way)
Sky Condition: 10 [scale of 0 (cloudy) to 10 (clear)]
No Lunar interference
Temperature: 61°F
Location: My Backyard, Savannah, GA


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