| Description | After a gap of 20 months Messier recorded M51 on January 11, 1774, roughly 3 months after his discovery (#22 so far): "Very faint nebula, without stars, near the eye of the Northern Greyhound [hunting dog], below the star Eta of 2nd magnitude of the tail of Ursa Major: M. Messier discovered this nebula on October 13, 1773, while he was watching the comet visible at that time". <--> As galaxies go, with modern equipment, this is a very bright and familiar target, which I've captured successfully multiple times. Feb 19, 2024 was one of the clearest evenings of the Winter, and decided to stay on it to achieve "near" astrophotography quality despite using EAA techniques. The two galactic centers and the connecting dust lanes are clearly evident. Just beautiful! We've included two "bonus" observations: first an observation using my EVO 9.25, early in my EAA career. The other on July 15, 2024 on a so-so night using my EdgeHD to capture it using Bin2 on my ASI294 camera over 37m, and processed in Affinity Photo. |
