M 51M 51The Whirlpool Galaxy, named by and whose spiral form was established by Lord Rosse using the 72" reflector at Birr Castle.
The designation refers to the Grand Design galaxy and its companion is NGC 5195.
Taken from
Austerfield using a Vixen VMC260L. This was one of the first uses of
the Vixen and the new AP 900GTO mount hence the unguided exposure of
45x60sec. Hence, in turn, the excessive amount of noise.
Acquired and
pre-processed in AA4 with final processing in Photoshop CS2.