This is M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy, shot with my Redcat51 in my Phoenix backyard. I took the subs over the past few days knowing we will have a full moon in 2 days. While not ideal for galaxies, I use my Optolong L-eXtreme narrow band filter with my ASI533MC OSC camera. From the weather forecast I knew we would have some nice clear skies and I just couldn't pass up a clear night given all of the cloudy ones we have had this winter. I really wasn't sure what I would get but figured I had nothing to loose. Post processing I used the Noise-X-Terminator to smooth out the background but I was not too aggressive as that filter can make some ugliness if used too strong. I tried to not over-process this too much and reach a compromise between detail, noise reduction and staying true to the real colors.
While I understand the process, math and theory behind stacking, it still blows my mind at times when I look at a sub vs the finished image. This is one 300" sub cropped approximately the same as the final image. Good grief there is nothing there!
I really have to take off my hat and congratulate the astronomers of the past that found these objects using, compared to today, very difficult to use and antiquated equipment. This object was found VISUALLY. A 5 minute sub using todays great tools show nothing and Pierre Mechain found this object, with as best as I could search and find, what must have been a very long focal length refractor. Turns out Pierre found quite a few Messier objects and contributed significantly to it and other sky survey catalogs. My goodness how far we have come!
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