M101 (Pinwheel galaxy, Ursa Major 14h03m 54°20') and supernova SN2023ixf


Coincidentally I photographed M101 on 17 May 2023, two days before supernova SN2023ixf was discovered. On 19 may I could confirm the supernova during a short break in the clouds. The wheather cleared on 24 May and the few astronomically dark hours enabled me to photograph M101 and SN2023ixf in L and RGB.
Below the results are presented in different ways: A gif switching between 17 May and 24/25 May 2023, the images of the two dates side by side and the sum of both dates to obtain a higher quality image of M101. (Click on the images for a larger version.)


Image information:

Equipment: 25cm Newton f/D=5.7 with FTT1010M CCD and RGB filterwheel
Sub-image exposures:
	17 May: Luminance 15*120sec
	24 May: Luminance 30*120sec
	25 May: RGB 30*120sec each
FoV: 0.48x0.44 deg
SN2023ixf in M101 17&24 may 2023 M1 HOO as RGB, 25/27 feb 2022 M101 Pinwheel galaxy
Gif switching between 17 and 24/25 May 2023
 17 May and 24 May side by side Sum of 17 and 24/25 May images


Earlier visits to M101:

M101 color 21/24 may 2004 M101 RGB and H-alpha, 21 may 2004
25cm Newton prime focus, f/D=5.7
FTF2020-M (binned), MYC-filters and H-alpha
Each color 20x90sec
Lum.= M+Y+C 21 may 2004 + b/w-image
of 2 june 2002
R-component = H-alpha image 30x120sec
FoV: 0.7x0.5 degr.
 M101 M101 en NGC5477, 2 june 2002
FTF2020-M CCD, binned
25cm Newton, f/D=5.7
Sum of 37 exposures of 90 sec