ملف:M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy.jpg

My second attempt at this galaxy (or should that be galaxies?)

The main reason was to image the galaxy since supernova 2011dh (or PSN J13303600+4706330 as it's also snappily known) was discovered at the start of the month. See my next item in my Photostream of a before-and-after shot.

I also wanted to try the galaxy using my Celestron C9.25.

I've read in a few places that summertime is bad for astronomy, and I hadn't quite appreciated the lack of time available for imaging at this time of year.

I had about 2.25 hours from midnight until the sun was noticeably affecting my images. I was using 4m30 exposures, so the slightest bit of light made a huge difference. Roll on October!