Conquering Light Pollution: Capturing M51 from a Bortle 8 Backyard
Even in the heart of a light-polluted city, the wonders of the cosmos are within reach. Astrophotographer StillSortOfAlive has proven this with their incredible capture of the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), taken from a challenging Bortle 8 backyard.
This breathtaking image is the result of dedication and meticulous planning, spanning two clear nights. With a total of 14 hours of exposure time, each 300-second shot was carefully stacked and processed to reveal the intricate details of this iconic spiral galaxy.
The Gear Behind the Glory
The pursuit of deep-sky objects under light-polluted skies requires specialized equipment. Here's the impressive setup used for this capture:
- Telescope: Celestron EDGE8
- Reducer: Celestron 0.7X
- Camera: ZWO294MCP
- Autoguider: Celestron OAG with ZWO174MM mini
- Filter: Optolong LP (Light Pollution) Filter
- Mount: CGEM
- Control: Asiair Plus
The Art of Post-Processing
Achieving such a stunning result from a Bortle 8 environment is a testament to advanced post-processing techniques. The data was stacked in Astro Pixel Processor (APP) and then meticulously refined in Pixinsight. The workflow included:
- Crop
- ABE (Auto Background Extraction)
- BXT (Background Neutralization)
- CC (Color Calibration)
- BGN (Background Gradient Neutralization)
- SCNR (Selective Color Noise Reduction)
- MSLT (Multiscale Linear Transform)
- HT (Histogram Transformation)
- Starnet (Star Removal)
- ACDNR (Adaptive Comb Deconvolution Noise Reduction)
- GAME (General Adaptive Multi-scale Enhancement)
- DECON (Deconvolution)
- CS (Color Stretching)
- CT (Color Transformation)
- TGVD (TGV-Denoise)
- Pixelmath
Overcoming Challenges
Capturing such detailed images often comes with the struggle of inconsistent weather and the motivation to set up equipment. For many astrophotographers, the key lies in having a dedicated setup and focusing on the desire to recreate inspiring images seen from others. When clear skies are scarce, planning and knowing your target will soon be out of season can be powerful motivators.
This image serves as an inspiration, showing that with the right tools, techniques, and a bit of perseverance, even the most challenging light conditions can be overcome to capture the beauty of the universe.
