Observation by Martin Butcher: M81 - Group.

Uploaded by

Stuart Morris

Observer

Martin Butcher

Observed

2009 Nov 10 - 21:30

Uploaded

2021 Apr 06 - 19:41

Objects

M81
M82
NGC3077

Planetarium overlay

Enable overlay
Show stars
Label stars
Show deep sky objects
Label deep sky objects
Show constellation boundaries
Show constellation sticks
Show constellation labels
Show RA/Dec grid

Constellation

Ursa Major

Field centre

RA: 09^h56^m
Dec: +69°10'
Position angle: +3°07'

Field size

2°02' × 1°22'

Equipment

Meade LX-90 8" telescope fitted to its field tripod by an equatorial wedge.
LX-90 Periodic Error Correction enabled.
Dew Removal straps fitted to telescope and camera lens
Telescope and camera powered by Mains Power.
Stock Canon 40D with 200mm f/2.8 lens stopped down to f/4
Telescope driven but unguided

Exposure

Twelve sub-exposures each 5 minutes long taken at ISO400

Location

Isle of Colonsay

Target name

M81, M82, and NGC3077

Title

M81 - Group.

About this image

M81 - The Bode's Galaxy is a spiral galaxy that lies in the constellation of Ursa Major.

M82 - The Cigar Galaxy experiences gravitational interactions with its galactic neighbour, M81, which is affected the shape and composition of one another.

NGC 3077 is a smaller member of the M81 group,

Equipment used:- Stock Canon 40D with 200mm f/2.8 lens mounted piggy-back on Meade LX-90 8" telescope fitted to its field tripod by an equatorial wedge. Telescope polar aligned. LX-90 Periodic Error Correction enabled. Dew Removal straps fitted to telescope and camera lens and operating. Telescope driven and manually guided. Telescope and camera powered by Mains Power.

Exposure details:- Twelve sub-exposures each 5 minutes long taken at ISO400. Ambient temperature minus one degree Celsius at beginning, reducing to minus 2 degrees Celsius at end.

Processing details:- After quality control 5 sub-exposures calibrated with Dark, Flat-field and Bias master frames before being combined in Images Plus. Noise reduction conducted in Noise Ninja. North is at the top.

Narrative description:- Twenty four days after New Moon, the Moon was below the horizon throughout the time the images were taken. The weather was cold, calm and clear with heavy dew; however, for 20 minutes the sequence of images had to be suspended due to cloud covering the objects. Towards the end of the sequence the camera and lens started to rotate on the mount causing the last few images to be subsequently discarded. From this experience I learnt that when using the camera with the long and heavy 200mm lens the object must be North, South or in the Zenith to avoid the Turning Moment acting on the camera which is only attached to the piggy-back mount by a screw thread.

Files associated with this observation

MButcherNGC3031 or M81 & NGC3034 or M82 & NGC3077.jpg (282.0 kB)

Like this image

Copyright of all images and other observations submitted to the BAA remains with the owner of the work. Reproduction of work by third parties is expressly forbidden without the consent of the copyright holder. By submitting images to this online gallery, you grant the BAA permission to reproduce them in any of our publications.

Registered charity no. 210769
Registered company no. 117572

For more information including contact details, click here.

Our Terms of Use are here.

Our Privacy Policy is here.