02/15/2023
M81 (Bode's Galaxy) and M82 (Cigar Galaxy). In the northern sky, in the constellation of Ursa Major, in late winter /early spring we can see some impressive close by galaxies (10 million light years or so). They are so close to each other that they are gravitational effected by each other. Bode's Galaxy is the one on the top that we can see face-on. M82 is the one with red stuff coming out of it. Kinda looks like a cigar too I guess. The Cigar Galaxy is an edge-on view of a spiral galaxy - but is classified as an "irregular" galaxy due to the huge plums of red ionized hydrogen gas that are expelled from the middle of the galaxy.
Over 80% of the known universe is hydrogen. All the previous images of hydrogen nebula on my page are blobs of hydrogen alpha somewhere in our own Milkyway Galaxy. Usually around 5-10 light years in diameter or so(ish). That's a very small size compared to the size of our Milkyway galaxy.
In contrast, in this image of M82 the Cigar Galaxy, we see hydrogen bursting out of it's galactic core at an insane speed and the size of these plums of gas are as large and larger than other neighboring galaxies. It's not huge, it's enormous!
954mm field view on a micro 4/3 sensor
Explorer scientific 127 ED Triplet Refractor
ASI1600 MM Camera
Don't try this at home!! At least not in 90 minutes. This was done under the very, very dark skies of Utah in LRGB.
R - 10 minutes
G - 10 minutes
B - 10 minutes
L (Luminance / clear) - 60 minutes
-----------------------------
AstroPixleProcessor
PixInsight
Blur Exterminator
Photoshop 2023