M101 Pinwheel Galaxy by Graham Caller (stacked final)
M101 Pinwheel Galaxy (single unstacked image)
Image of the Pinwheel Galaxy M101, by our member Graham Caller.
The two images above (the finished final stacked image together with a single unstacked sub-image), clearly demonstrate the power of stacking many images of the same object. Deep Sky Stacker software was used.
Graham comments:
The fruits of my labour over the last two evenings.
3.5 hours of photos with the best 3 hours stacked and processed.
M101 is 21 million light years from us. For perspective, Andromeda is 2.5 million light years away.
This was a tricky target as I couldn’t see it through the telescope and only just in a 1 mins exposure.
See attached example of a single frame and the finished stacked image. Perhaps display these side by side to demonstrate what can be achieved by stacking.
