M61

All good things must come to an end (George Harrison)!  Messier 61 is the last of the great galaxies in the Big Dipper and Virgo regions I have been imaging since February.  Although it has been fun, I am ready to move to something different such as nebulae and clusters.  Unfortunately the next set of Messier Objects are not visible from the Happy Frog Observatory located in my yard so I will have to drive to my alternate location.

M61 (or NGC 4303) is one of the largest barred spiral galaxies in Virgo and approximately 52 million light-years from Earth.  It has a diameter of about 100,000 light years which is roughly the same size as our galaxy, the Milky Way (source: Messier Objects).

Only 22 Messier objects are left on my catalog but it may take a while to image them as only about four are visible from my yard.

https://sites.google.com/site/messierobjectsed80/

Crop2

Crop

Wide Field

M61
Location: Happy Frog Observatory, Monroe, CT
Date: 5-26-17, 5-31-17, 6-12-17
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i(a), Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Focal Reducer: Orion 0.8x Focal Reducer for Refractor Telescopes
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Filter: Astrodon UV/IR
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
Exposure: 2 x 90s, 28 x 90s, 38 x 90s
ISO: 1600
Temp: 18 C, 24 C, 18
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Lightroom, Gradient Exterminator, Astronomy Tools, StarTools.
https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/