Pinwheel Galaxy (M101)

[Bill Richards]

After being thwarted by bad weather for over 6 months, I finally got an opportunity to try out my new EdgeHD 8 on the Pinwheel Galaxy last night. I lost a lot of subs due to fog and a dropped USB connection to the mount, but still captured 78 good subs to stack.

The Pinwheel Galaxy (aka M101) is a face-on spiral galaxy 21 million light-years from Earth. It's a large galaxy, with a diameter of 170,000 light-years comprised of about a trillion stars. By comparison, our own Milky Way has a diameter of 100,000-120,000 light-years and has about 200,000 stars.

This is the result of ~4 hours of exposure time taken on 4/15/2023.

Equipment and Software:
=======================
Mount: iOption CEM40 w/iPolar
Telescope: Celestron EdgeHd 8
Auto-Focuser: Rigel Systems nFocus
Imaging Camera: ASI2600MC-Pro
Guide Camera: ASI174 on OAG
Imaging Software: NINA
Guiding Software: PHD2
Image Processing Software: PixInsight

Exposure Details:
=================
Camera Temperature -15C
Bias: 50
Gain: 100
78 x 180s
Plus 32x Darks, Flats, and Dark Flats

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[Ben Egbert]

Really like this one

 

[AlanLichty]

Nice details on the spiral arms. 5 times bigger than the Milky Way. Wow.

 

[JimFox]

That's awesome Bill! I am so happy the weather finally cooperated for you. Here I was feeling bad that the 10 day forecast looks bad in the 5 state area around Colorado.

I am glad you were able to work through the issues as this image of the Pinwheel is so rich in detail.

Having the Pinwheel fill the frame had to have been a really awesome feeling!

I hope the weather gets its act together for you as it would be awesome to see a bunch of large galaxies from you in the coming months.

 

[Dan Moorehead]

Beautiful

 

[Bill Richards]

That's awesome Bill! I am so happy the weather finally cooperated for you. Here I was feeling bad that the 10 day forecast looks bad in the 5 state area around Colorado.

I am glad you were able to work through the issues as this image of the Pinwheel is so rich in detail.

Having the Pinwheel fill the frame had to have been a really awesome feeling!

I hope the weather gets its act together for you as it would be awesome to see a bunch of large galaxies from you in the coming months.

Thanks, Jim. But now I'm going to do what all professional artisans tell you to never do - I'm going to point out flaws.

The brighter stars all have anomolous flaring and refraction spikes that should not be present with an EdgeHD:

I ran tests in my yard, methodically removing/replacing one piece of equipment at a time in the optical train. In the end, the issue was still present when the only pieces of original equipment remaining were the telescope and the camera. I know the camera isn't causing this because it doesn't happen with my other telescope. So I generated a detailed test report and sent it to Celestron. They read it, asked one question (did I have a dew heater running at full power - the answer was no), and then they issued an RMA for the telescope. So I shipped it back yesterday. The good news is that they are willing to address the problem. The bad news is that I'm now without a long focal length scope in the midst of galaxy season.

 

[JimFox]

Oh man Bill!

That's sad news about the anomaly. But it's great that Celestron will address it and look at it. Where does it have to go for servicing? How long do you think it will be gone?

The cropping ability on the MC2600mc Pro is really awesome. Is there anyway to pick up a scope in the 1000mm range for now? Since I can't really mount the Edge HD 8 on my Gem28 mount, I have kind of been thinking on going that route at some point, of just getting into the 1000 to 1200mm range and then cropping. Not as good as optically being at 2000mm+, but it would be servicable for me I think.

 

[Bill Richards]

Oh man Bill!

That's sad news about the anomaly. But it's great that Celestron will address it and look at it. Where does it have to go for servicing? How long do you think it will be gone?

The cropping ability on the MC2600mc Pro is really awesome. Is there anyway to pick up a scope in the 1000mm range for now? Since I can't really mount the Edge HD 8 on my Gem28 mount, I have kind of been thinking on going that route at some point, of just getting into the 1000 to 1200mm range and then cropping. Not as good as optically being at 2000mm+, but it would be servicable for me I think.

It only has to go to Torrance and it will be delivered today. No idea how long it will take them to service it. I've heard nightmare stories about people with RASA scopes that took 2+ years to get back. I'm hoping that won't be the case for me.

The range of 600mm to 1400mm is a bit of a "dead zone" with telescopes - too large for most refractors and too small for most reflectors. You could look at a 6" reflector and use a 0.7x focal reducer to get you into the 1000mm range, but most 6" reflectors are not optical-grade equipment so that may prove more frustrating than it's worth.

 

[Mike Lewis]

A very nice result - too bad about the issues with the 8" Edge though. I bought a lightly used 9.25 Edge myself and it has taken a little while to get some collimation issues sorted out with it, but it seems to be doing well for me now. The Edge OTAs are potentially great scopes, I expect yours will be awesome once Celestron works on it, and hopefully not too long of a delay to get it back. These things are still very scarce to buy new these days, that is for sure.

ML