M51 Whirlpool Galaxy (two nights, three sessions with different exposure lengths) (John Sims)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: IC 4263 · M 51 · NGC 5194 · NGC 5195 · Whirlpool Galaxy

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy (two nights, three sessions with different exposure lengths), John Sims

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M51 Whirlpool Galaxy (two nights, three sessions with different exposure lengths)

Revision title: Fully integrated within WBPP

Powered byPixInsight

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy (two nights, three sessions with different exposure lengths)

Revision title: Fully integrated within WBPP

My first M51 image was based on 47 subs, each 120 seconds. Then, last night, I went back and took 27 subs, each 150 seconds, and 22 subs each 210 seconds. Total time: 94 minutes + 67.5 minutes + 77 minutes for a total of 238 minutes, or just under 4 hours. Not sure this is an improvement over original image, but my PixInsight skills are in the very early stages of development, so am confident someone with more experience and better skills could find a better outcome. Nonetheless, here is a second image, based on treble the exposure time.
Also, my integration using WBPP is "suspect". When I dumped all of the Light, Bias, and Flat files into WBPP it produced three Master Lights, which I integrated to product the base file for this image. Guess I need more YouTube time to figure out WBPP:-)
Did spend the time with youtube, and thanks to Adam Block have re-stacked with all images. Image has been updated to new version reflecting proper stacking.

Original
Final
C

C

Title: Fully integrated within WBPP

Description: Original image (since deleted) was only one evening of images. The first revision had one more night, with two different exposure lengths. I did not know at that time how to get WBPP to integrate all images into a single master, so ended up with three masters (for the three sessions/exposure lengths), which I "integrated" using the integration process.
After much time with Adam Block I finally figured out how to properly group and integrate all three sessions into a single master light. That is what this image is.

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Status	Basic success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	7558168
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
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M51 Whirlpool Galaxy (two nights, three sessions with different exposure lengths)

Revision title: Fully integrated within WBPP

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy (two nights, three sessions with different exposure lengths)

Revision title: Fully integrated within WBPP

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M51 Whirlpool Galaxy (two nights, three sessions with different exposure lengths)

Revision title: Fully integrated within WBPP

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy (two nights, three sessions with different exposure lengths)

Revision title: Fully integrated within WBPP

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