M101 In Ursa Major - Posted May 28, 2006

I decided I wanted more detail in the M101 image that I took with the Tak refractor in March. I was lucky enough to hit a night of fantastic seeing in May and got a couple hours worth of luminance through the LX200 using a clear filter and the F6.3 reducer. I then merged the galaxy luminance from the LX200 into the LRGB image taken with the Tak in March. This was done in Photoshop using the "Luminosity" property for the new layer. I'm pleased with the resulting increase in core detail and will likely use this method again when the opportunity presents itself.

Here's the native scale LX200 luminance shot that was merged into the previous LRGB image: