Yet another NGC 5128

[RickS]

It's obviously the season for this galaxy :)

NGC 5128 or Centaurus A is one of the closest radio galaxies to Earth at a distance of approximately 12 million light-years. It has a distinctive central dust lane and an active galactic nucleus containing a supermassive black hole creating a relativistic jet which emits in visual, radio and X-ray wavelengths. The inner and outer filaments of the optical jet are visible here as the red streaks between 2 and 3 o'clock. It is an unusual galaxy, possibly the result of a merger between an elliptical galaxy and a smaller spiral galaxy.

Scope: Planewave CDK17 @ f/6.8 = 2939mm FL
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: SBIG STXL-11002/AOX
Filters: Astrodon LRGB gen II, 3nm NB
Image scale: 0.63 arcsec/pixel
Exposures: 15x1200s R, 15x1200s G, 15x1200s B, 22x1200s L, 11x1800s Ha (27.83 hours)
Processing: PixInsight 1.8.5

Fantastic data captured at Heaven's Mirror observatory by Martin Pugh, processed by yours truly.

High res version on Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/347855/?nc=user

Cheers,
Rick.

[topheart]

Hi Rick,
That is an awesome image!! I love the detail and colour of everything, but especially the jet on the RHS.
Wow!!
Cheers,
Tim

[cometcatcher]

Awesome image! Nice jet!

[multiweb]

Superb shot! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
PS: dithering + flat fielding should get rid of those two smears at 2 o'clock.

[LewisM]

I've never seen this galaxy before. Intriguing beastie...

:lol:

Stack 'em up like cord-wood :P

Great rendition of it, and nice processing.

[Ryderscope]

A jolly good hamburger Rick. Nice capture of the optical jets.

* Edit: I've just looked at my own image of Centaurus A and there is no sign of the Ha jet and then realised of course that I only imaged in LRGB. We might just be going back in with the Ha filter to see what we can pick up. Thanks Rick.

[alpal]

Hi Rick,

Wow - that's one of the best I've ever seen.
The full resolution is amazing & those jets are so clear.
Nice to see an Ha filter used.
That should be an APOD.


cheers
Allan

[Peter Ward]

What an impressive rendering of Cent A.
Wonderful stuff ! :thumbsup:

[IanP]

Perfect raw material + (PixInsight) "magic" skills = MAGIC RESULT
:D

[peter_4059]

Remarkable image of the hamburger Rick. I don't remember seeing anything like this before. Thanks for the view.

[h0ughy]

well i might as well trash mine - oh so so good

[RickS]

Thanks, Tim!



Ta, Kevin.



Thanks for the helpful advice, Marc. It's probably a Camembert stain ;)



Ta, Lweis.



Thanks, Rodney. You never know what you'll find with a few hours of NB!



Thanks very much, Allan.



Thanks, Peter. I like this long FL stuff. Will have to put a big Alluna on my wishlist.



Very kind of you, Ian.



Thanks, Peter!



Nah, Dave... so long as you're having fun and improving that's what matters :thumbsup:

[RobC]

Great image Rick. I think that deserves two bottles of FG champagne.

Cheers Rob

[troypiggo]

That's a gourmet burger

[billdan]

Wow that's really good, never saw that jet so bright and detailed before.
Cheers
Bill

[Slawomir]

Outstanding image Rick :thumbsup:

I also do not recall seeing the jet so clearly in any other image - and the scarce photons from the jet were captured with the old school “noisy n with apparently so-so QE” CCD :eyepop:

[Placidus]

A lovely, lovely, lovely image. More than just a little bit jealous!

[RickS]

Thanks, Rob :lol:



Ta, Troy. With all the trimmings!



Thanks, Bill.



Thanks, Suavi. I probably should have mentioned that we binned x2 the Ha.



Thanks, M&T. That's high praise indeed.

[archioptic]

WOW, incredible image Rick. That jet is out of this world..

[Geoff45]

Nicely done Rick. I've never realised that the jet was there. Definitely something to aim for. Good idea binning the Ha--you're not really after a lot of detail.

[Retrograde]

That is phenomenal Rick! :eyepop:
I've see the jet on quite a few other excellent photos but never as clearly as this.

[Camelopardalis]

That's pretty epic Rick, loving the full size :eyepop: :thumbsup:

[John K]

Hi Rick,

that's an amazing image and one of the best amateur one's I have seen!

Great work.

John K.

[markas]

There are features here I've never seen before - but apart from that it's a super rendition:thumbsup:



Mark

[graham.hobart]

Cripes! I looked at that on my phone before but the full scale image really knocks my socks off.
What a fab image!.:thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Excellent work Rick. Interesting the elliptical is more yellow than normally shown in many versions. I suppose Ellipticals tend to be yellowish and the whitish versions are probably off in colour.

The jet came out great. There should also be a blue component to that jet as it shows up in LRGB as well as a blue streak (not the bit that looks like a flag as that is rarely seen the first smaller bit).

Greg.

[ozstronomer]

Very impressive image Rick, love the addition of the Ha jet.

As mentioned, I had never seen it before

Well done and great processing :thumbsup:

[DaveNZ]

Wonderful image Rick. Great detail and colour.

The Hamburger is to good to eat.

Dave

[RickS]

Thanks, Nathan.



Ta, Geoff. It's one of those dim objects that you're happy to just register at all :)



Thanks, Pete.



Thanks, Dunk.



Thanks very much, John.



Thanks, Mark.



Ta, Graz!



Thanks, Greg. I should have looked a bit more closely for the blue component. I have seen that before too. Will check it out when I get home (away in Melbourne this week.)



Thanks, Geoff!



Thanks, Dave!

[DJT]

Nicely done, Rick. The jet is v cool indeed. Amazing to see what can be drawn out of good data.
:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Great to see such a well image galaxy in a slightly different light (pardon the pun), great job mate, enjoyed this one :thumbsup:

Mike

[RickS]

Thanks, David.



Thanks very much. Mike. Not a marathon time-wise but I was fairly happy with it.