M51

"The Whirlpool Galaxy"

Constellation- Canes Venetici

Right Ascension: 13h 30m 05s

Declination: +47° 10' 41"

Distance: 37,000,000 light years

Visual Brightness: 8.4 mag

Apparent Dimension: 11x7 arc minutes

Image info:

Date- March30,2006

Telescope/Focal length/Camera- NexStar11 GPS @ f/7.0, SBIG ST-8XE NABG @ -20C, autoguided with CCDSoft 5.0

Integrations- LRGB L = 11 x 900 seconds binned 1x1, RGB = 8 x 600 seconds each binned 1x1

Processing- Darks, flats, and alignment in CCDSoft 5.0, levels and curves in Photoshop 5.0.