Arp 93 twin galactic tidal tails in Aquarius

[strongmanmike]

Got some good conditions this new moon :cool:...so, even though I don't have a 32" scope in the atacama... I brazenly and defiantly :tasdevil: pointed my little fast F3.8 scope and little sensitive camera, at this tiny pair of interacting galaxies in Aquarius :D

Well..:shrug:..despite my woefully inadequate equipment at almost sea level, I was very pleased with the outcome and quite excited to reveal the full extent of the faint twin tidal tails and significant detail deep with in the two small galaxies :thumbsup:

The upper galaxy in this image, NGC 7285, is 2' in size while NGC 7284 below it is just 1.5' across but together these two galaxies in Aquarius are performing a close gravitational dance and the encounter has produced two (faint) magnificent sweeping broad tidal tails (to the left and a fainter one to the right in the image). This cosmic gravitational stretching has resulted in stars and gas being flung out and strewn across an area of sky measuring some 10' X 3'. So, at the estimated distance of 210 Million light years to this pair of galaxies, that means the two galaxies have spread across more than 300,000 light years of space, or three times the size of our Milky Way galaxy! :eyepop:

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do...ah sigh..our amazing Universe :thumbsup: all capture details are under the image.

Cosmic dance Arp 93 (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/166247619/original) (full res close up crop)

NGC 7284/5 (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/166247618/original) (Full Frame) lots of galaxies all over the field :)

[Octane]

Aww, man. The full field is a joy to behold. All those swirlies!

I've been pointing my FSQ at the Grus Quartet for the hell of it, because there's a few swirlies in there, too. :)

Well done!

H

[codemonkey]

That's awesome, Mike. Great field, haven't seen it before either.

[Stevec35]

Looks good Mike!

Steve

[markas]

Great shot - both the crop and the field:)

Mark

[atalas]

:jawdrop:.....damn stupendous work :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:hey that central region is reminiscent of NGC 1097!hehe....well,I guess they are both barred.

Man what a great field as well....very cool.

[RickS]

An amazing pair of interacting galaxies, Mike! The rest of the field is pretty cool too. I think you've proven, yet again, that modest equipment at an ordinary site can produce the goods :thumbsup:

[Andy01]

That's so cool my fingers got frostbite from my phone!
Must look at that on a proper screen whilst sitting in a sauna😎
Nice one :thumbsup:

[Joshua Bunn]

Absolutely love it Mike and all your recent images... you've been picking the not so often imaged objects, which I like.

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Humayun :thumbsup: galaxies with the FSQ huh?...nice, look forward to seeing the results. Hopefully soon I will hav emy FSQ up and running...I keep finding myself in the middle of imaging something cool but small...:question:



THnaks Lee, yes seldom imaged, the CHART32 guys have done a good one :thumbsup:



Thnaks



Glad you liked it Mark :thumbsup:



Glad you enjoyed the view big Louie, galaxies are hard to beat...I am struggling to shoot anything else these days :lol:



Thanks Rick, yes well...I would like a 32"at Cerre Tololo though :sadeyes: :lol:...in the meantime 12"at F3.8 with 4.5 micron pixels will have to do :sadeyes:



Watch the screen doesn't melt in the sauna :eyepop:



Hi Josh! glad you like it, like most interacting Arp galaxies, it is certainly intriguing :thumbsup:

Mike

[Placidus]

Beyond gorgeous and technically superb.

:prey2:

The top left galaxy looks like it's been totally destroyed, like a tomato in a blender, but one could imagine that not just individual stars, but the planets around them, and perhaps critters on many of them, have survived.

[strongmanmike]

Ha ha thanks M&T :) lots of blending and ripping going on there and yes....lets hope so :thumbsup:

Mike

[Atmos]

Very nice Mike, an interesting field when looking at the full frame :)

Further to MnT's comments, a few years ago I did a mathematical simulation of the Milky Way and Andromeda interaction and they would have to pass through one another some 6-7 times before statistically there would be an interaction between the stars within them.
Stars might be pretty damned big compared to us but the space between them is mind boggling.

[alpal]

Superb image Mike,
it's a rare target.
The only one I could find on the web which is any good & is
more a of a closeup here:
https://cgs.obs.carnegiescience.edu/CGS/data/images/NGC7285_color.jpg

You can think of your picture as in the top 1 or 2 pics that can be found -
yours is a wide field which is very pleasing - unless someone can find more?
I wish they would have launched a dozen Hubble telescopes so we could get
to see real closeups of these wonderful distant galaxys.

cheers
Allan

[gregbradley]

That's a superb image Mike.Magic.

Images like this is why we are doing all this hard work in astrophotography. It must be a very satisfying image.

Greg.

[billdan]

Well done Mike, great image. It looks like a few more galaxies in the full frame are having issues with tidal forces.

[DJT]

Yup, one for the cool wall.

Excellent image Mike, can see why you havnt put the FSQ up yet when these little beauties are around.:thumbsup:

[multiweb]

Very nice shot Mike. The details in the interacting pair is very good. :thumbsup:

[Paul Haese]

Like this, background is nice and charcoal, colour is subtle, an interesting target with nice detail processing. All looks good. I really like a few of the smaller galaxies too. And, there are a myriad of smaller specks to be seen also.

[alocky]

Hi Mike, if this is kind of result you produce when you're making a point, I'm going to start finding things to needle you with! :D
This pair is a wonderful test of a visual observer too.
Good dark skies regardless of elevation are a big part of the puzzle!
Cheers
Andrew

[strongmanmike]

Thanks so much guys.

Col, that must have been a cool project.

Allan, cheers mate,Chart 32 have done the only other full colour deep shot of the field and as you might expect given its pedigree and location, is quite wonderful :)

Cheers Greg, I couldnt agree more

Dave, I am just lazy...

Andrew...:D all good fun, some people just say such silly things sometimes :)

Thanks again all :love:

Mike

[cometcatcher]

Wow, that's very cool as are the distant background galaxies.

[alpal]

So they have Mike:
http://www.chart32.de/index.php/component/k2/item/222

I had only checked with google.
They did over 13 hours of integration.
Wouldn't you love to use their equipment & location?

cheers
Allan

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Kevin, who doesnt like galaxy fields :shrug: :thumbsup:



Yes, with some significant property sized investment that you can't negative gear....be great ;) So in tha meantime I'll keep pluggin away with true amateur gear under Aussie skies, happy enough :)

Mike

[Retrograde]

That's amazing!

[rustigsmed]

Fantastic capture Mike!

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Pete and Russ :thumbsup: I was quite happy with how this came together and the two galaxies tearing each other apart is so amazing

Mike

[E_ri_k]

That's super cool Mike!! So many interesting little galaxies in that full frame, especially the one in the top right corner :thumbsup:

Erik

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Erik, lots of little distant galaxies is always a crowd pleaser :thumbsup:

Mike

[alpal]

Dear Mike,
what you have achieved with a 12" Newt is truly amazing.
That scope is so fast & camera so sensitive that you can
take top pictures only rivaled by multi million dollar setups.

cheers
Allan

[Slawomir]

Wow! Lovely image - so many galaxies in the background! And since I just started putting together an LRGB image myself (one of my first ones), I get a better appreciation of your ability Mike to balance colours and show detail in galaxies. A standard to aim for, really :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Well thank you Allan, it is quite clear that large aperture long focal length compound scopes do very nice jobs on galaxies particularly from high steady sky locations but with care and some skill, we can certainly get more than respectable results with truly amateur sized and priced gear closer to sea level :)

Mike



Thank you very much Suavi :thumbsup:

Don't worry practice makes perfect...:)

Mike

[Ryderscope]

I've just been having a nice little journey through the background of this image. A wonderful array of big and small galaxies. Nice one.

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Rod, totally agree, that's one of the great things about galaxy fields, Mike and Trish have done some great examples with their goliath scope in Orange too :thumbsup:

Mike