M81

Messier 81

The CGEM maiden voyage. After proper polar alignment, this tracked flawlessly for over two hours. I dropped a segment of 5 shots, because for some reason after doing a focus check, I had forgotten the pointing accuracy of this mount is much better than expected. The lower image is full frame (canon 350D), scaled to 1198x798 and the above is scaled and cropped at 800x600.

M81 is approximately 12 million light years away and is main character of it's own 34 galaxy group. It harbors a 70 million solar mass Super Massive black hole at its core. Discovered by Johann Elert Bode in 1774 and often referred to as Bode's Nebula (or Galaxy) it has very low apparent magnitude of 6.94.

Exposure and information:

39 (Light) x 180 Seconds at ISO 1600
5 Darks (taken at +15F)
5 Flats (neutral warm)
5 Bias (1/4000th)