M81, M82, NGC 3077 and galactic cirrus (IFN)

M 81, M82 and NGC 3077 are well known galaxies which can be seen close to the Big Bear constellation. In this deep image (20 hours of total  exposure in two nights) obtained from a dark rural site in Spain, faint galactic cirrus from our milky way galaxy can be seen over the whole image. These galactic cirrus mostly correspond to clouds of dust, hydrogen and carbon monoxide from our milky way galaxy, faintly illuminated by the combined light of our galaxy (integrated flux nebula or IFN).

• Location and dates: 

February 21th and March 22th from Hortezuela de Océn, 150 km away from Madrid, Spain, which is a rural site with dark skies (Bortle 2).

• Equipment:

Takahashi FSQ 106N scope with an Omegon vetec 571 M camera and a ZWO filter wheel with luminance, red, green and blue filters. QHY off axis guider with a ZWO 120MM guide camera.

Williams Optics RedCat 51 with an QHY 183 M camera and a QHY filter wheel with red, green and blue filters.

Losmandy G 11 equatorial mount.

PrimaLuce Eagle LE computer-controller.

Imaging software: NINA and PHD2.

• Image data:

Multiple subexposures of 4 minutes each were obtained over both nights, totalling 20 hours:

Luminance: 8 hours with the FSQ 106N scope.

Red: 3 hours and 48 minutes (96 minutes with the FSQ 106N and 132 minutes with the Redcat 51).

Green: 4 hours and 12 minutes (120 minutes with the FSQ 106N and  132 minurtd with the Redcat 51).

Blue: 4 hours (120 minutes with the FSQ 106N and  120 minutes with the Redcat 51).

• Image processing on PixInsight 1.9.3, with BlurXterminator, NoiseXterminator and StarXterminator plugins.