2026-03-19 / Image Details (Click on images to enlarge)
galacticsights
astrophotography
Bode's Galaxy, M81 and Cigar Galaxy, M82
Technical Details
| Location | Zollikerberg, Switzerland |
| Camera | Nikon DSLR D810A |
| Telescope | TS ONTC 12" f/4 Carbon Newton |
| Optics | TS 2,5" Wynne Coma Corrector |
| Focal Length | 1126mm |
| Mount | iOptron CEM120 Center-Balanced Equatorial Mount |
| Autoguiding | PHD2 (Dithering) |
| Focuser | Moonlite Nitecrawler |
| Planetarium Software | Stellarium | Image Session Control | APT - Astro Photography Tool, ASCOM Platform |
| Lights | 77 x 120s (total 2h34'), ISO-800, additional Biases, Flats, no Darks |
| Stacking Software | Pixinsight, Drizzle 2x |
| Image Processing | Pixinsight |
2019-04-20 / Image Details (Click on images to enlarge)
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Technical Details
| Location | Zollikerberg, Switzerland |
| Camera | Nikon DSLR D810A |
| Telescope | TS ONTC 12" f/4 Carbon Newton |
| Optics | TS 2,5" Wynne Coma Corrector |
| Focal Length | 1126mm |
| Mount | iOptron CEM60 Center-Balanced Equatorial Mount |
| Autoguiding | Lacerta MGEN2 (Autoguiding, Dithering) |
| Focuser | Moonlite |
| Planetarium Software | Stellarium | Image Session Control | APT - Astro Photography Tool, ASCOM Platform |
| Lights | 83 x 120s (total 2h46'), ISO-1250, additional Biases, Flats, no Darks |
| Stacking Software | Pixinsight, Drizzle 2x |
| Image Processing | Pixinsight |
M82, also known as Cigar Galaxy, is a starburst galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major. It is the closest starburst galaxy to Earth and serves as a prototype for this type of galaxy. The galaxy lies at a distance of 11.4 to 12.4 million light years from Earth and has a diameter of about 37,000 light years. Rich with dust, young stars and glowing gas, M82 is both unusually bright and relatively close to Earth. The Cigar Galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its core, one with a mass of about 30 million solar masses.
The Cigar Galaxy is strongly affected by the interaction with its larger neighbor M81 (Bode’s Galaxy), with tidal forces deforming the galaxy in a process that started some 100 or 200 million years ago. As a result of the encounter, star forming activity in M82 has increased tenfold compared to other galaxies. M81, also known as Bode's galaxy, is a large bright spiral galaxy located 11.8 million light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major. This galaxy is a perfect example of a spiral galaxy and exhibits near perfect and well defined spiral arms. The visual separation between the two galaxies’ centres is approximately 130,000 light years.