Date: 3/5/2010
Target: M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy
Telescope: Orion 8" f/4.9 w/Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector
Camera: Canon 40D (modified)
Filter: None
Exposures: 36x300s (3.0h) @ ISO800
Framing: North is up, 60% Crop
Start Temp: 27F
End Temp: 23F
Location: Mocksville, NC
Seeing: 3/5
Transparency: 3/5
Guiding (RMS/Osc): 0.18/36
FWHM: 5.0"
Start Time: 11:00PM
End Time: 2:00AM
Captured and Normalized with Nebulosity, stacked using DeepSkyStacker, processed in Photoshop.

Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird Picture of the Day March 12, 2010

Cloudy Nights Imaging and Sketching Contest DSLR Finalist March 2010

From Wikipedia.org:

The Whirlpool Galaxy (also known as Messier 51a, M51a, or NGC 5194) is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy located at a distance of approximately 23 million light-years in the constellation Canes Venatici. It is one of the most famous galaxies in the sky. The galaxy and its companion (NGC 5195) are easily observed by amateur astronomers, and the two galaxies may even be seen with binoculars.The Whirlpool Galaxy is also a popular target for professionalastronomers, who study it to further understanding of galaxy structure(particularly structure associated with the spiral arms) and galaxy interactions.