Galaxy Season (First Attempt)- REPROCESSED

Canon T5i (Modified), Canon 300mm f2.8is II, f2.8, 60 second exposures, ISO 1600, Astrotrac, Light Pollution Filter, ImagesPlus, Photoshop, Lightroom.  144 Light Frames, 28 Dark Frames, 30 Bias Frames, 25 Flat Frames

This image is made up of 144 separate 60 second exposures and combined with ImagesPlus for a total of 2 hours and 24 minutes of exposure.

Please view in Shadowbox.

IN FULL DISCLOSURE:  The image posted above is NOT actually the original post.  NSN kindly awarded the original as an EP, (thank you for this) but despite this, I was not fully happy with the editing results, so I decided to give it another go. 

I re-visited the processing tonight and realized that there was more details in there than I originally thought.  First off, my white balance was way off, and I believe that there were some funny color casts from the light pollution, my light pollution filter, and the camera itself that were all off balance with one another.  I selectively adjusted the WB for the galaxies and the sky, and believe that I was more able to accurately render the scene.  The core of M81 is a bright mass of densely packed stars while the surrounding spirals fade into reflection and emission nebulae. 

Another element of the image I was unhappy with was the BG of space.  I found it to be very flat and single tone, and I know through seeing more detailed imaging of this area of the sky that there is actually dusty cloudy variance that is subtle but certainly present.  Through a more comprehensive manipulation of shadows and highlights I was able to coax some of this out, which in my opinion gave the scene a little more texture.  I have included the original image in a post below for comparison.

It has been a really "murky" spring here in Vermont, and over the last month the only clear nights we have had have been during a bright moon.  Finally, last night we had clear skies, and the moon did not rise until almost 3:30am, which gave a ice window of several hours of shooting after Astronomical Twilight (about 10:30pm). 

This is my first attempt at shooting galaxies, and living just outside of Burlington, the heavy light pollution really washes out much of the sky.  I would rather have been at a dark site where I could have imaged without my light pollution filter, as a lot of blue colors were eliminated from the spiral o M81.

I know there is a ton more detail to be found up there, and hopefully this spring will yield more clear dark nights and allow me another go at it. 

This pair of galaxies are Messier 81 (M81) and Messier 82 (M82), commonly known as Bode's and the Cigar Galaxy are located about 12 million light years away and separated from each other by only 150,000 light years.  The two galaxies interact with one another and the gravitational pull of M82 has helped M81 form into one of the most perfect spiral galaxies in the night sky. 

It is believed that the two galaxies will collide within a few billion years.  The resulting galaxy will be a likeness of Johann Bode smoking a cigar.