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: 30x240sec, saved as FITS
Darks: 32x240s, saved as FITS
Flats: 32×0.2sec, Tee shirt flats taken at dusk
Average Light Pollution: Red zone, Bortle 8, poor transparency
Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.5 mag/arc-sec^2
Stacking: Mean with a 2-sigma clip.
White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic
Software: Nebulosity, Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop
M102 is a beautiful edge-on spiral galaxy that is nestled in between Draco, Bootes, and Ursa Major. It is almost exactly edge-on to our line of sight and shows an extremely thin profile with only a slight central bulge and a slender dust lane. M102 is one of two galaxies named the Spindle, the other being NGC 3115 in Sextans.
M102 lies off of the northeastern end of the handle of the Big Dipper. This region rises in the northeast during the early evening and it high overhead after midnight.
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