Other Names: Messier 51 • Whirlpool Galaxy
Optics: Meade 10" ACF SCT at f/9.4
Mount: Paramount MX using The SkyX Pro
Camera: QSI 683WSG-8
Filters: Astrodon LRGB
Exposure: 1340 Mins or 22.33 hours, [665' Lum, 245' R, 175' G, 245' B ], 300s exposures, Binned 2x2
Accessories: Auto guided with Starlight Xpress Adaptive Optics, Starlight Xpress Lodestar & PHD2. FLI Atlas focuser using FocusMax 4.1.0.72
Location: Burlington, ON, Canada
Date: Taken over several nights from March 10th, 2018 to May 24th, 2018

Notes: Image acquisition with TSX Pro using MaxPilote automation software.
Processing: Image calibration, & align in Maxim DL Pro. Levels, curves, cosmetic adjustments and crop/resize in Photoshop. Color mapped to the LRGB palette in PS. Calibrated w/32 Darks, 100 Bias, 50 Flats of each filter using natural sky flats. CCD temperature was -25C. Image was taken from my backyard Observatory.

The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a, M51a, and NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. Its distance is estimated to be between 15 and 35 million light-years.