It Has Cloudy Outside And I Could Not Take More Photos For The Last Two Weeks - Blog Posts

same picture with a better post treatment of the original data.

in astrophotography, a lot the work is in the post treatment step. that step does not add details or actual alter the actual data, it's all about how do you reduce the noise in the image as much as posible while keeping the data as visible as possible (in short a lot of math hidden behind what looks like simple fonction such as ''deconvolution'').

This is M51, also known as the Whirlpool Galaxy it is a pair a galaxy currently interacting together. If you look at the two arms of the spiral, you will see that the one on the left is somewhat deformed (near the other galaxy) this is due to the gravitational interaction between the two galaxies. Those interaction are also the reason why the left galaxy (NGC 5195) is this irregular. Some of the models have proposed that both galaxies have passed through each other at some point in the past. In the future both galaxie will slowly fuse together, but this will take at least a few hundred million years. Multiple other interacting galaxies also exist, such as the butterfly galaxies or the antenna galaxies.

This photo was supposed to be a test of my new equatorial mount but the result was WAY BETTER than expected so here you go (the post-treatment of the photos is not the best ever but I had to work with a limited amount a data). I will probably post more photos this summer since I now have access to better skys and a better mount than in Munich (If the weather complies).