SUNSET: 
0
Photographer:
Cristian Zicola
Location of Photo:
Bisaccia (AVELLINO), Italy
Date/Time of photo:
April 4, 19, 25, 26 and May 2, 2026
Equipment:
Tecnosky 200/800 f/4 Carbon Newtonian astrograph, Skywatcher NEQ6 Pro mount Rowan mod, Player-One Poseidon-C Pro, Player One Anti-Halo UV IR-Cut + Antlia ALP-T dual-band Ha/Oiii 3nm, guiding with Tecnosky Sharp Guide 60 V2 + ZWO ASI 224 MC camera
Description:
M81 (Bode's Galaxy) and M82 (Cigar Galaxy) locked in a gravitational dance: M81's tidal forces have disrupted M82's structure, igniting a violent starburst in its core and launching jets of ionized hydrogen thousands of light-years into space. Surrounding, faint veils of IFN (Integrated Flux Nebulae) — dust in the Milky Way's halo — emerge from the darkness. Nearly 27 hours of broadband and narrowband exposures, combined in an HaRGB composition, were needed to reveal these structures across such vastly different tonal ranges. For the narrowband, hydrogen emission was used to emphasize various galaxies structures. The challenging and interesting part was to bring out the weaker Ha emission and extract the weak IFN signal. Shooting data: light 278x180" RGB + 151x300" NB, calibrated
