Telescope: Meade 12” LX850 ACF @ f/8, Orion Atlas EQ-G
Camera: ZWO ASI071 MC Pro, -10C, Gain 200
Filter: Orion Imaging Skyglow Filter
Guide scope: Astro-Tech 60mm, ASI290MM Mini, PHD2
Exposure: 40x240sec, saved as FITS
Darks: 32x240s, saved as FITS
Flats: 32×0.02sec, Tee shirt flats taken at dusk
Average Light Pollution: Bortle 8, poor transparency, haze, good seeing
Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.3 mag/arc-sec^2
Stacking: Mean with a 2-sigma clip.
White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic
Software: Nebulosity, Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop
M82 is a close neighbor to the nearby spiral galaxy M81 which is located about ½ degree to the south. These two form an interacting pair and M82 bears the scars of a close encounter with M82 about 100 million years ago. The dark dust lanes that cut across the central region of the galaxy are very distinctive and are easily visible in modest telescopes. M82 was originally classified as an irregular galaxy, but detailed studies had shown that it is actually a spiral seen nearly edge-on.
M82 rises in the northeast early in the evening and is overhead after midnight. (Photo credit: John Graham, 1-9-2021)
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