Bode's Galaxy

Bode’s Galaxy (M81) - April 2026

We had two clear nights last week that allowed me to capture nearly 10 hours of exposures for Bode’s Galaxy (M81).

Bode’s Galaxy is a great target for my location given its proximity to Polaris (the “north star” used for polar alignment). The galaxy doesn’t move far in the sky throughout the night - it mostly rotates around that north star as the Earth spins. This is great because one issue I run into with my backyard astrophotography is losing targets behind trees or buildings - we have these beautiful 6+ story evergreens all around us that deep sky targets love to hide behind throughout the night.

Because M81 is so close to Polaris and doesn’t drop very low, I was able to keep my scope on it for a very long time each night.

I also tried a new approach to help with my editing. To help reduce star bloat from the long 3 minute exposures of the galaxy, I took ~60 short 30s exposures for my star layer with the goal of editing the 3 minute exposures for the galaxy details, and the 30 second exposures for the stars. I used StarXTerminator (PixInsight) to crate a starless image for editing the galaxy, then the reverse for the 30s star exposures.

Overall I’m happy with the results - my stars do feel less bloated (though still not perfect). I also wasn’t able to really lift the faint blues of the galaxy arms in the editing process, nor was I able to really sharpen the whispy Integrated Flux Nebula details. I could see both of these things during editing, but wasn’t able to accentuate them as much as I’d like.

This is almost certainly a skill issue primarily (this is my third time using PixInsight), but also (I think) a product of my “cheaper” doublet refractor and full color camera.

Regardless, a very fun one!