• Messier 101 in Ursa Major
  • M101
    Annotated
  • NGC 5457 or Messier 101 in Ursa Major.
  • The Pinwheel Galaxy is 23 mly away.
  • Hover over the image for an annotated view.
  • Date:  27 April 2025
  • FOV:  cropped to 54' × 36'; the angular size of M101 is about 29 × 27'
  • Telescope:  Orion 127mm Mak-Cass (1448mm, nominally 1540mm, f/12.1)
  • Guiding:  ZWO ASI120MM mini mono guide camera,
  • SVBony SV165 Mini 40mm f/4 guide scope
  • Computer:  ASIair pro Raspberry Pi
  • Mount:  ZWO AM5
  • Camera:  ZWO ASI071MC Pro Cooled (-10°C) Color CMOS with gain 90
  • Filter:  none
  • Stacking:  ninety-one 240 second frames using PixInsight
  • Calibration frames:  20 dark, 20 flat, 20 dark flat
  • Total Time:  6 hours 4 minutes
  • Processing:  Pixinsight – SPCC, DBE, SPCC, BlurXT, NoiseXT → Linear
  • HTS, GHS, MStr, PixelMath MStr + GHS + HST → Stars,
  • Linear, StarXT, HTS, GHS, MStr,
  • PixelMath MStr + GHS + HST → Starless, HDRMST686PhLm
  • PixelMath ~(~Starless*~Stars) → Blend, Sat, DynCrop/Scale
  • Location:  Stony Creek State Boat Launch near Henderson, NY