M109 from the Big Dipper • VideoSift: Online Video *Quality Control

Help Yourself To One Of My Ribs

posted by deathcow

8 months 1 week ago • 452 views

This is 275 minutes of exposure through a 200mm refractor.

M109 is a barred spiral galaxy discovered by a French guy named Messier in 1781. This object appears in the sky about 1/4th by 1/7th the apparant size of the full moon. This galaxy is moving away from us at about 2.5 million miles per hour.

This light travelled for about 47 million years before being lucky enough to land in my camera.

M109

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Because it's 275 minutes of exposure I was expecting to see it spin via an animated gif - but that's silly isn't it? How long would it take to see the spin in a galaxy - hundreds of years?

What's the big bright star in the upper left?

written by dag

| 8 months 1 week ago | CH

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Beautiful shot! It's great to know that astronomy is not necessarily reserved for people with giant mountaintop telescopes.

written by Ornthoron

| 8 months 1 week ago | CH

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That's quite impressive. Do you have any more pics like this?

written by eric3579

| 8 months 1 week ago | CH

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>> ^Ornthoron:
Beautiful shot! It's great to know that astronomy is not necessarily reserved for people with giant mountaintop telescopes.

Have you seen his rig? I think "giant mountaintop telescope" describes it pretty well.

written by dag

| 8 months 1 week ago | CH

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That's beautiful. We, too, are a barred galaxy, if I'm not mistaken; living in a little cul de sac out in one of the arms.

I did a little Google math - 2.75876539 × 10²⁰ miles away. Or so.

I'm going to hazard a guess on the star to the upper left: Gamma Ursae Majoris.

written by silvercord

| 8 months 1 week ago | CH

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^showoff..

written by gwiz665

| 8 months 1 week ago | CH

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I just find this stuff fascinating.

written by silvercord

| 8 months 1 week ago | CH

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We Americans can train a camera on a galaxy light-years away, and yet we still can't brew a decent tasting beer.

written by rougy

| 8 months 1 week ago | CH

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* * < if its like the milky way galaxy, you would need a 100,000 year exposure to capture one revolution > * *

written by deathcow

| 8 months 1 week ago | CH

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I use two telescopes to make these images. One scope watches a single "guide star" and uses a very cheap camera and free software to track the position of the star. It works hard to keep the star exactly the same place in the pictures from the camera. By doing so, it keeps the big scope pointed at the galaxy very precisely.

This is the little scope riding on the big scope:
http://www.pbase.com/mclemens1969/image/96998645

written by deathcow

| 8 months 1 week ago | CH

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The big bright star is actually way too faint to see, but with this much exposure it really burns out the star.

written by deathcow

| 7 months 2 weeks ago | CH

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