SUNSET: 
0
Photographer:
Jon Greif
Location of Photo:
Alpine, CA, USA
Date/Time of photo:
March 21, 2025, between 8 pm and 11:30 pm PDT
Equipment:
TS-Optics 8" f/4 ONTC Newtonian Telescope, 10Micron GM1000HPS Mount, ZWO ASI2600MM Pro camera, ZWO LRGB filters, MoonLite focuser, NINA acquisition software and Pixinsight processing software.
Description:
Messier 81, upper left in the photo, and Messier 82, lower right, are nearby galaxies in the Constellation Ursa Major. M81 (also known as Bode's Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away and has a diameter of 96,000 light-years. M82 (also known as the Cigar Galaxy) is a starburst galaxy approximately 12 million light-years away and has a diameter of 40,800 light-years. The starburst activity of M82 is thought to have been triggered by interaction with neighboring galaxy M81. The image represents 4 hours of exposure time night before last through the 8 inch reflecting telescope in our backyard observatory.
