Taking a Picture of the M82 GALAXY

In this video, I photograph the M82 Galaxy in Ursa Major.
Complete Photo Details: bit.ly/38AQydN
Download my Image Processing Guide: sellfy.com/p/0...
"The Cigar Galaxy" (Messier 82) is a starburst galaxy that lies approximately 12 million light-years away from Earth.
I captured 11 x 5-minute images using an h-alpha filter to add to my existing color data of this object.
The original RGB image includes over 7 hours of exposure time using my Explore Scientific ED 102 telescope and ZWO ASI294MC Pro camera (Remember that video?)
The h-alpha data was blended into the red channel of my RGB image, AND as a luminance layer to show more detail in the galaxy.
Affiliate Links:
Some of the links in my video descriptions are affiliate links, which means at no extra cost to you, I will make a small commission if you click them and make a qualifying purchase.

[@AstroBackyard]

Can Rudy get a thumbs up? 🐶 (I'll let him know)

[@carlhostner7261]

Yes he can!!🙃

[@The_OEK]

Sure he can :)

[@TheUrbanAstronomer]

👍👍👍

[@wesleydonnelly2141]

Oh like HELL YES HE CAN!! he's amazing! Beautiful Dog and a little Star in his own right! he could do his own YT Channel for all his fans! lol Great vid Trevor ( and Rudy! Ofcourse! ) Back in your Back Yard! Awesome Trevor! Final image was amazing! Thank You! Wes, Liverpool England ( Bortle 8 )

[@spaceexplorer5481]

Why not

[@AstroPhotos]

12 Million Light Years away.......... It's utterly amazing that we can image something so far away from home. Great video :)

[@marcbelm1709]

We can image it only because thats a huge thing

[@robertfield4103]

Here's the way I look at it. Through some ethereal combination of the butterfly effect, serendipity, and happenstance, THOSE PHOTONS travelling for 12 million years with Trevor's name engraved on them just happened to complete their journey and land on his camera sensor on this night. Just another day at the office capturing a small piece of the firmament. WONDERFUL!

[@aemyttyastro]

5:40 Hits the cable and that reaction.. And btw, GREAT photo😍!!! Man,that HA just gives it that extra punch

[@daafrofungus5437]

man I'm really happy to see you upload so often these times... I just hope you don't rush yourself to much ! ;) As a barely 17 year old kid, I'm very interested in astrophotography, and thanks to you, I can't wait to get some gear and do the same ! It's even more efficient to shoot where I live because I'm living close to the equator, in a nearly desertic zone, but I need to convince my parents first, since I still didn't get a birthday gift on Valentine's day x) Anyways, greetings from Niger 🇳🇪 ! And keep up the good content ;)

[@TheExoplanetsChannel]

Me too

[@andrewfreiji4647]

I hope you get the gear you need. I'd imagine that in Niger, light pollution levels are much lower than what they're like in the U.S. and Canada. The darker the skies, the less filters you need. Good luck my friend.

[@daafrofungus5437]

@@andrewfreiji4647 Thank you :) and yep, light pollution levels are very low here. I never went to the U.S. nor Canada, but I know that you can get to Bortle 2-4 zones in less than an hour. Also, I've already found a place to shoot the Milkyway, without having an app like Photopills, since I know it comes out from the South. Something really interesting since there will be the river Niger in front with plains in the background. This will help me beautify the natural aspect of my father's homeland. And it would be nice for me to see the MW for the first time in my life !! Unfortunately, I'm still in high school, and I don't think the moon will be absent during my next holidays in April. Plus there are security problems due to terrorism in neighbouring countries. I hope that everything will work out though, I won't give up ! PS: sorry if my English is a little poor, I only speak Dutch and French ^_^"

[@smoke4131]

I'm into photography too but my parents won't be buying a camera for me I'm 17 too and my birthday was 3 days earlier than you

[@daafrofungus5437]

@@smoke4131 we're unlucky man...

[@graysmith9496]

Your knowledge, skill and passion never cease to amaze me, stunning work Trevor.

[@rickbohart6788]

Thanks Trevor. looks like Rudy likes his new back yard! Great stuff keep it up.

[@piotrjakuc6357]

Broooo, this feels like the ultimate astrophotography setup!!! Also, I can’t get enough of Rudy!

[@dekemp1986]

Yes! galaxy season!. I thought you already had returned that huge setup. So cool of a setup.

[@MadMikey1010]

Hi Trevor. To fix the wind-knocking-your-light-stand issue, I'd recommend filling a small bag or a couple of bags with sand and place it on the stand legs. That will keep it from moving. Oh and by the way, a couple of weeks ago you asked us when we started following you...I got on board when you had a little less than 400 subscribers. Thanks for bringing joy and interesting content to this amazing hobby. Clear skies.

[@JimMarkgraf]

Love watching your videos for ideas and information on astrophotography. I have to admit being a little jealous of your rig and the nice dark skies you get! Skies here in NJ are so polluted by NYC and Philadelphia. Keep the videos coming! Oh, and Rudy is absolutely awesome in his own right! Love watching him run around.

[@Astrolavista]

I love to see the Ha region of the cigar firing out the core. great job!

[@Klaatu-ij9uz]

Thanks for sharing your first-class knowledge with your first-class equipment.

[@AlanHowellphotovideo]

You can get a round 15lb sandbag lightstand weight that will keep your light from falling over in the wind. I know B&H has them and Amazon for cheap.

[@memohech]

Your process, channel and photos are inspiring. Thanks for sharing!

[@AstroQuest1]

Nice work. Adding the Ha really brought out the starburst portion. I am actually working on Thor as well this time without a Focal Reducer - low in the sky and fighting the wispy clouds. Oh well....

[@BKBees]

What method did you use to blend in the HA data? I recently did a pretty large project on M81 and M82, with 10 minute uv/ir cut subs to try to gather the IFN, but after blending in the HA via channel combination I am left not really loving the final image, so I'm curious as to how you went about this pretty difficult task.

[@PetterFormo]

This is just insane man. At the end, I actually tear up. The univers always gets me very emotional. Seeing that you capture photos of galaxy's and other objects out there is just unreal. One day I'm gonna do the same. Thank you for the inspiration man!

[@paulgrounds1145]

The detail of the final photo is insane!!! Brilliant capture

[@evalaczko2718]

Nice setup, beautiful photo! Rudy is so cute. Clear skies.

[@SCTyler.]

Trevor, thanks to you I actually have bought a very rudimentary at this point but slowly evolving astrophotography set up. This weekend i was able to go out and get my very first shots of the Orion Nebula. The surprised look on my face when my untracked 3 second exposures came back with the nebula clear as day would have been a sight to see. Thanks for everything that you do and I hope that one day I can photograph my dream target M51.

[@ryanbiscobarnes]

12M LYs from my BACK YARD...love it.

[@adii2319]

That music at the end makes the photo alive.

[@GGori_99]

Your backyard is just straight AWESOME

[@Calzune]

Trevoooor! Burn that handcontroller and start platesolving! 😂

[@TheExoplanetsChannel]

Haha

[@stephans1633]

Yeah right

[@catchingphotons]

True ;)

[@SHADOWWESKER1]

Back to the videos I love in the back yard capturing amazing images

[@sirmeowcelot]

Thank you Trevor for another amazing video.

[@stephans1633]

Massive rig, very exciting.

[@andr1]

That is so awesome that you can capture these images from your backyard, well done mate, beautiful

[@chattywalrus8485]

Awesome! Nasty jets from the central black hole, scary-looking!

[@kendps1587]

I was out too during that time California time, my plan was to practice polar alignment with qhy polemaster. My scope was etx125 on top of skyview pro mount. I ended up doing luna observation 😊😊😊 It was worth it!

[@stew_redman]

I have the Sigma 35mm 1.4 lens. The image quality is nothing short of stunning. Great video, as always.

[@biblestudytoday]

I enjoy your videos. I want a bigger newtonian with an equatorial mount someday. I am now using a Nextstar 130 SLT, I have seen some people take some decent photos with it. I fell in love with astrophotography one night when I accidentally took a photo of the Andromeda galaxy and was amazed. Thank you for your videos and input.

[@kennethfrank2000]

Nice use of a mediocre night Trevor! Even in Northern California I’ve been clouded out the last month but could still capture 10 -20 subs before the fog rolls in. Ya gotta. Are do even if it’s frustrating! Nice to see it happens to everyone this time of year

[@TheWonkyAstronomer]

Can't beat a big old refractor! Great image.

[@konrak81]

great video like always Trevor

[@paprala23]

I appreciate what you doing. Love and support from Winnipeg 👍👍

[@RaysAstrophotography]

Well done! I took picture of this M82 for the same Moon reason one night!

[@ohyou_6599]

I just picked up a Rokinon 21mm f1.4 and it shoots low light very well. It or the 24mm will definitely work for you but they do still need a bit of light. A full moon is plenty or some nearby streetlamps to get a general idea of what's going on, but if you want good results like what you have now, you will still need some lighting.

[@MrSuperMole]

In Poland, the word Rudy means redhead... :-)

[@materialdialectics]

Nice! As per usual. Its been a pretty rough winter for astrophotography here on the west coast too, I've only been able to do M42 and Horsehead.

[@GarnettLeary]

That 24mm is amazing. It’s been highly recommended for Milky Way photography by a lot of skilled shooters. Corner to corner it’s fantastic.

[@SamBeDoing]

Trevor, as usual, thank you for your content. Even someone like myself, who only does visual, finds your content enjoyable to watch. Keep it up, great videos!

[@uriahheep8470]

Love that pair of galaxies. Great in a dob, but really nice in larger Binos. Nice image.

[@benranson8424]

Just starting out in astrophotography, and last night I took my first photo of M81 and M82. It was such a late night here in the UK before the clouds got out of the way, so I didn't get time to process the images. But I'm looking forward to the result. Thanks again for a great channel!

[@itsmewoodG]

I captured those last week for the first time, using a cheap Orion 80 mm f5, and canon550d. Turned out OK but not great, I have a lot to learn.

[@SIGP229TPOC]

I'm only here for the Rudy footage 👍

[@AstroBackyard]

I totally understand

[@kevinashley478]

Hey, not sure if you read comments here on KZbin, but I hope you see this question. I am brand spanking new to this hobby, have only taken some shots of Andromeda, Orion nebula, and some moon photos on a tripod. I am currently saving to get a tracker. I have 2 questions of separate topics. 1) The first is about post processing. You mentioned here and a few other videos about adding this data to previous data. How do you do that? If you take data and process it to a finished image, but then a couple of months later get more data in a different range, how do you add that? I am hoping to get to the point of using filters by summer 2022, so this is more of a question in general and not necessarily specific to my current situation. Maybe you could do a video on it. 2) This one is about gear. Which is better, achromatic or apochromatic and what is the differences and what is the pros/cons of both? Which would you recommend? Also, mounts. I saw your 2 videos for the beginner mounts with ioptron and skywatcher. I plan to get the skywatcher within the next month to use with my T3i stock. But I do plan to get a small telescope and maybe even a 90 or 100 after that. From what I have seen, once you get to 70mm, you are either at max or surpassing the load capacity of those smaller mounts. What mounts would you recommend for mid size? I am a long way away, financially, from being able to afford a 120 or anything bigger, but an 80 or 90 I can do, but those are well above what those previously mentioned mounts can do. I doubt I can afford a mount like what you are sporting in this video, so could you give some options for middle road mounts? If you have already done a video on this and I just haven't seen it, could you point it out and I'll check it out. 3) sorry, this just popped in my head. Could you do a video, a detailed video, on a step by step of setting up your gear - like a first time set up, with the gear and the software? Maybe go over some of the terminology and processes like dithering or collimation? How you combine your different data mono/red channel/ blue channel/ green channel/ etc? How do you select your filters based on your light pollution? Like how do you know which wavelengths to block? What is backspacing about? Are field flatteners specific to telescopes or can you get one for your camera and it works on all telescopes? Maybe I have missed those videos too, lol, you have a lot of them. It would be very helpful to some of us newbies to have something to refer to as a guide, especially those of us that can understand better by watching/ doing than by reading. Thank you for your time and the work you put into this subject! And give Rudy a belly rub, seeing him reminds me of my dog that I haven't seen for six months due to being away from home. Keep up the great work!

[@Invisible_one]

Trevor, it's great to see you using monochrome AND an OAG! However, the EQ8R has through the mount cabling built in! Thanks for the video, it was good as always. Clear skies!

[@tyesphoto]

You could move to New Mexico, lots of clear skies and good bird photography as well.

[@stevenlitkey9354]

Great Job 👍 Watching your vids from way back until now, you've really honed your on camera skills and tech info delivery !! Your videos have inspired me to take on yet another hobby 😁😁 I acquired a Canon T3i and have a LX85 mount coming. Will be getting a mid length refractor and a Red Cat sized lens also. New adventure for a 64yr old guy 😁😁 Was big into photography back in the day with my Canon A1s, AE1, and tons of lenses . Thanks again for the inspiration that deep sky photography is possible in light polluted locations !!!

[@jakobfriedrich5117]

I have to say m82 is my favorite Galaxy so far. It's sooo pretty in visual, even in an 8" one can really make out that shape and some of the dust

[@kfskfskfskfs163]

I have Photographed the same target With my Smartphone and a 8 Inch newtonian a Few days ago. Of course there are By far not as many Details as with that Monster setup but i am pretty Happy with it👍 Great Video btw

[@qvoorhorst]

f1.4 is great for getting that light in and getting that nice bokeh, but as you may know, the delth of field of a f 1.4 is very small and you have to be sure your camera is able to follow you if you change the distance between you and the camera, or a lot of footage will be blurry.

[@patrickmckay403]

I had exactly the same experience last night! The AVX said I last used this mount in September!

[@gabewrsewell]

the sigma 24 f/1.4 is gorgeous, and will do you beautifully for video, although for astrophotography it has a wee bit of sagittal flaring in the edges. for astrophotography the 35 f/1.4, and especially the 40 f/1.4, are absolute gems. but you do like your wide angle lenses for video. I say go for it! I’ve fallen in love with sigma art lenses for astrophotography

[@Lennymcgra]

I have the Sigma 20mm F1.4, the thing is a beast for collecting light, i would recommend it, thanks for the great content bud.

[@jtkent28]

I am absolutely blown away that you can take photos like this from literally your own backyard. You could have told me the Hubble space telescope took this and I’d have believed it. Not just that but the fact this galaxy is 12 MILLION FREAKING LIGHT YEARS away just blows my mind. Think about how insane that is. And if they are taking pictures of us over there.. we aren’t even there yet!

[@haveagreatdana5599]

LOVE THAT RUDY! THANK YOU. Thanks for explaining in detail. much appreciated.

[@myretrochannel1]

I have the classic Meade LXD75 mount along with a basic 4" f7.8 refractor scope and a Canon Rebel T5 since i dont have an autoguiding system im limited to only 30 sec exposures, i REALLY need help on the calibrating part though, great job as usual! :)

[@baldp.7892]

Its wonderful, nice picture ! Have you a gallery on the Internet, where i could look at your pictures ?

[@wernerrecks]

Hi Trevor, a phantastic image of M82 !!! Regards from Germany, Werner

[@astrostar_clearski7041]

Great Photo! Thank you for all the good videos!

[@TheUrbanAstronomer]

Awesome video and image!!

[@seanmolony-redstickastro238]

Hey Trevor. I have a ton of data on that target if you want it to add to yours? PS loving my Louisiana Dog shots. I'll send him some Gumbo

[@Kroller9]

You will never believe me! I just captured thors helmed 20x3min ending up in a tree. Now i am waiting for the dark frames to finish. So i thought: what could i capture next? Maybe m82. My research brought me to your video! Nice

[@komr323]

So you have to resize the photo so the M82 Ha is at the right scale with the RGB M82? Given the slow speed of the esprit 150 (F7?). Is 11*5 mins of narrow band really enough?

[@celestromel]

Hi Trevor - very jealous of the Esprit 150. Are you intending to bring any gear to Byron Bay? If so, what? Rudy can stay home but what about “Da Boss”?

[@steveamurray59]

Trevor, try a sandbag at the base of your lightstand. By the way, your gonna love the night skies down here in Australia. One for Rudy 👍 lol.

[@dasimcoes]

Great image Trevor , The 694 is on my wish list. Tell Rudy hello.

[@Sm00th-0perator]

I loved the song at the end of vlog.

[@davepastern]

Trevor, what are you using to attach your DSLR to the rail at 5:15? I've considered a variety of setups, but they all have fit issues from what people have said...

[@GRCHADSTI]

That Sigma 24/1.4 Should rock for video and wide astro shots! Im rocking the 20/1.4 for my Sony a7iii. Its quite the big lens and is only abit smaller than the 70-200/4 that I own. 😂 That's Bigma for you!

[@pnjunction5689]

I've got the Sigma 24mm f/1.4. I haven't used it for video, but it's a fantastic super sharp lens. I highly recommend it.

[@nilaya80]

How do you use PHD2 for guiding when you have the handcontroller ? Do you connect the guidecamera to the scope ? If so, what settings in the handcontroller do you have for autoguiding ? I thought you had to have EQMOD running together with PHD2 to make it work.

[@ToddChevrier]

Great Shot!

[@douweodh4146]

Trevor I like that you’re shooting galaxies. You know your way around those nebulas well enough 😉

[@madamsvito]

The Sigma art lenses are really great. I've been shooting with their 18-35 on the FS5 for a few years now and it's usually the first lens I grab while shooting documentary. Having the flexibility with the zoom is great and it's a killer lens for night photography at F1.8. The only bad thing is that it's a crop sensor lens, so if you're shooting on your 5D that 24mm might be your best bet.

[@newbee1016]

Hi Trevor, I have been following you since 2017, and your work is mind blowing and very inspirational to all us astrophotographers. I have been watching all your videos on youtube, and I would like to know what year of Photoshop do you run, I have got Photoshop CS6 Extended, I believe it is bit on the old side of photoshop products, I am considering up dating to a more recent version. Robert, Aust'

[@Tw1x5000]

don't know if you still need advice about that 24mm f/1.4 lens by sigma - i own the 35mm f/1.4 one, and it's REALLY great... huge light-soaking-abilities, like you already mentioned :-) I'm sure, the 24mm is similar in quality (the price is though) - and the quality of the 35mm one is for sure.

[@premoumsoup7471]

Love your vids. I'm actually saving up to get the Rokinon 135mm F2.0 so I can do astrophotography

[@donstronomy7606]

Beautiful, thank you. When are you going to fire up that 11 inch HD?

[@orionm4254]

I was going to ask (considering im new to the hobby) a question about the hobby, but that takes away the fun part of exploring the night sky : )

[@ellipirelli1569]

Nice Video and please give Rudy a hug.

[@void0094]

finally some more galaxies

[@mpsteidle]

Do you have just the H-Alpha data posted anywhere? I'm curious how it looked.

[@AstroSchnitzel]

I hope this is the best place to ask, but when I aim my Williams Optics 73 at Sirius, my viewfinder acts weird on my Sony Alpha setting. It doesn’t look like yours. The stars appear red on my viewfinder. Is this a setting that I need to adjust or turn off somehow? I am saving up for a Rokinon for my sony but it looks like they are all out of stock!

[@Wawa1225]

Was your Canadian winter terrible? My Swedish winter was. (We had like no snow)

[@jeffmarston8586]

What happened to the C11 you got for galaxies? Just wondering if you have tried it out yet.

[@kpeecee]

I have a CANON lens, F1.8, 50mm, will this lens be good for astrophotography

[@lourencosousa252]

Wow! You´re awsome! Keep the great work man!

[@paulsmaglik5063]

What is the name of that green filter wheel? I have an OAG in my bag of tricks already but never used it I was waiting for a future date to use it. I wanted to master the traditional auto guiding at the time being. The problem on master something once I have figured it out then it is cloudy for the next month and I have to start over.

[@Kiauze]

Trevor, any chance we can get a spotify playlist (or simply a list) of the music you use for your videos? Great work, I've been doing great progress on my own astrophotos thanks to your videos and website!

[@saudnaeem]

Spectacular stuff

[@Lou-li3lb]

Inspiring image! I shot M81 and M82 for the first time last week with my Explore scientific 127mm and QHY 168c. It turned out OK, but nowhere near as good as some of the images I've seen on astrobin....need a Celestron EdgeHD OTA and mono camera now, haha. Any particular reason why you still use the hand controller? I didn't use one for my last session w/ EQ6R-Pro and using EQMOD and APT. I was able to do all my alignment with the blind platesolving tool in APT, and I assume EQMOD is telling the mount the correct time/date/location. It seemed to work, but wondering if there's something I'm not aware of.

[@tbardoni5065]

Lou Is your 127 the triplet? I got the triplet in December. Haven’t even looked through it yet. Too few clear nights...like 3, maybe? I’m dying to get out there with it and my ASI1600 mono. Anyway, how do you like it?

[@Lou-li3lb]

@@tbardoni5065 Yes, I found a used 127mm triplet with the FCD100 glass and carbon fiber. It's a much better scope than I deserve, haha. I've only had it out two nights, but I love it. I'm sure you will too. Only thing is I still want more reach/aperture for smaller galaxies.

[@jeffreymore6799]

That was very cool for end results

[@bobbyv3]

Are you doing any live steaming for the Blue Supermoon?

[@banukadimuthu4070]

It is a very useful video and nice work 👌👌✌️✌️ I m also using OAG. Even its nicely forcus to both imaging and guide camera, i cant see any of a star from phd guiding. May you suggest a solution for that? (Scope: 14" RC 2850 mm focal length)

[@JonesysMusicMix]

Hey i know this probably isn’t the correct place to ask for assistance but here I am. Recently I bought the Orion Spaceprobe 130ST EQ. With a diameter of 130mm and a focal length of 650mm. I have the 10mm eyepiece and the 25mm eyepiece. Honestly with great disappointment, I went outside tonight to view Venus and it was just a dot. I could see no color, or make out the planet at all. What I’m alluding to is, what do I need to obtain to be able to view planets, nebula, and other space objects for my telescope. Any assistance is accepted. Thank you! Have a nice night.

[@BKBees]

I only come here for Rudy, lol, just kidding, but I always love to see the pup!

[@bhavyadoshi5374]

Awesome image 👍👏👏👏