Spiraling Galaxies! Exploring Space Through Astrophotography

Through Astrophotography, we journey to and explore M51, The Whirlpool Galaxy, and it's little tagalong buddy NGC 5194, a small dwarf galaxy. These two galaxies are interacting gravitationally with each other and are connected by a filament of space dust and gasses. Taken together, they form a spectacular image which we can see face on, thus revealing the splendor of a Grand Design Spiral Galaxy.

The image was taken from a Bortle one dark sky location known as Enterprise Reservoir, Utah. The elevation was 6,000 feet. Seeing conditions were ideal. Total integrated exposure time is 240 minutes of 30 second sub-exposures. We chose a shorter sub-exposure time to avoid blowing out the bright, brilliant core. Dithering helped as well.

Telescope: Orion 10" Dobsonian with 1,200mm focal length
Camera: Orion G24 (equivalent to the ZWO ASI2400MC Pro full color cmos)
Mount: Orion EQ-G Atlas
Imaging Software: SharpCap
Guiding Software: PHD2
Processing Software: DeepSkyStacker and Photoshop

Topics Covered:
Astrophotography for beginners
Bortle 1 dark sky
Imaging Galaxies
M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy
NGC 5194 - Companion Dwarf Galaxy
Grand Design Spiral Galaxy
20" Dobsonian Telescope


00:00 Bortle One Astrophotography
00:52 M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy
02:18 Dwarf Galaxy NGC 5195
06:49 Astrophotography Imaging Session
09:32 20" Dobsonian Telescope
10:54 10' Dob/Newtonian Astrophotography Setup
13:32 Image of M51 The Whirlpool Galaxy
14:35 Drone Footage of Volcanic Tuff Cliffs

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