NGC 55 - A Cigar in Space

[strongmanmike]

A popular target this time of year...here is my take on this amazing galaxy

I always thought this galaxy was kind of a bit boring to image :shrug:...unless of course the sky gods bless you with good seeing conditions, well then you can peer right into this edge on galaxy and see lots of stuff! :D

Taken over three nights, two of which were very steady, this is a pretty deep look at this baby, there is quite an extensive array of distant galaxies spread out right across the image and also a rather prominent outer halo envelopes the galaxy and few other images out there have revealed this, so that is pretty cool :).

At about the size of the full Moon, it is actually quite a large angular size on the sky and although I thought I had framed her perfectly to fit it all in, the very faintest extensions in fact extend a little further off the right side of this 38 arc min wide field of view :eyepop:

The seeing was good enough that no deconvolution was used on this either :D...but several beers were consumed during image acquisition..errr :question: and during processing :drink::drink::drink:

Capture details under the image:

NGC 55 - A cigar in Space (https://www.flickr.com/photos/strongman/29764559467/in/dateposted-public/) (click on image and use your cursor to surf around)

To have a good deep look and go distant galaxy hunting, check out and surf the full resolution image (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/168121516/original)

[codemonkey]

Very nice, Mike. Nice, tight, well-shaped stars, great detail and colour. Nailed it.

[RickS]

Verrry nice, Mike, and some lovely little fuzzies in the field. I reckon a tiny touch of decon would sharpen it up nicely :lol:

Cheers,
Rick.

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Lee, yeah I feel everything worked well and came together for this image :thumbsup:



:lol: thanks Ricki and I did try some decon but seriously, it looked better without it :shrug: if the conditions allow, it is better not to use that bloody artificial filter :rolleyes: I hate dots!..and worms! :lol: :thumbsup:

Mike

[Placidus]

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

We're absolutely thrilled to see how similar our two images are in terms of star by star colour, and in terms of fine detail in both tiniest galaxies and the big one, showing that some degree of objectivity and reproducibility is prevailing. That's a very good thing in this naughty world.

Your optics, seeing and guiding must have been superb.

So the correct quantities of beer, carefully applied, seem to settle the sky ! Wonder if Mortimer's "Jules" Cabernet-Shiraz has the same effect?

Best,
MnT

[strongmanmike]

Cheers guys :)

I try to display my data accurately, with as little artificial detail or processing induced structures (have you heard of deconvolution :scared:) as possible..well, hopefully none! :eyepop: :lol:

The seeing on the 11 Sept was around my usual average levels (which are still not too bad) but conditions on the 13 Sept were really excellent, the subs were sharp as a tack :eyepop: and thus produced a big grin on my face :D and increased the beer consumption measurably..hic! :drink: and guiding was bloody perfect (ave guide errors of around 0.3 arc sec) the seeing dropped just a tad on 14 Sept but were still pretty good. This scope may not be the highest end scope money can buy but on my classic Tak NJP mount and in the right conditions it performs pretty ok :thumbsup: :)

Mike

[Ryderscope]

I see a developing affection for NGC55 following these excellent displays. Stunning as always Mike. Thanks for sharing.

[alpal]

Hi Mike,
your picture has all the detail that's in M&Ts pic.
That's amazing considering the difference in the type of scope.
Your high quality results really surprise me.
Did you get a fluke mirror from Orion? :)



cheers
Allan

[markas]

Superb image:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
Great colour and detail.


Mark

[topheart]

Hi Mike,
An awesome result!
I love it.
I really like the Ha enhanced red areas.

Well done!
Cheers,
Tim

[cometcatcher]

Top class image Mike! Love the Ha areas too.

[DaveNZ]

Well done Mike. Great detail. The Ha certainly stands out.

The more I look at this galaxy the more I like it. It was considered a little boring back in the film days.

Dave

[Andy01]

I'm really enjoying this NGC 55 galacto shootout by several of the top image contributers here - makes a fascinating comparison and something for us us mere mortals to aspire to. :D

Inspired by all this goodness, I headed out last night to a dark site to have a crack at NGC 300. Now I know where the bar has been set, I suspect it's going to take a few more trips to get adaquate data, then the LRGB processing adventure begins. :) :question:

Big thanks for sharing these - Mike yours is a truly wonderful image, with itty bitty galaxies in the background everywhere you look. Well done! :thumbsup:

[Retrograde]

Brilliant. Those HII regions are delicious. :thumbsup:

[Atmos]

It is quite interesting comparing the two "Mike" images. The resolution and clarity are very much the same with the biggest difference being in the processing.

Both benchmark images for sure!

[multiweb]

Really nice colors. :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

You're welcome Rodney :thumbsup:



Not sure the similarity is all that surprising, in the end as long as your optics are diffraction limited, it is the seeing that evens out the playing field :) Put M&T's scope at CTIO and bingo! :thumbsup:



Thanks a lot Mark



Thanks and glad to hear Timmy :thumbsup: it was pretty exciting to see the seeing so good :cool::cheers:



Cheers Kevin :thumbsup:



Totally agree, I have had similar meah I won't bother with that one, feelings on a few galaxies due to preconceived ideas :lol:



Thanks a lot Andy, glad it is all encouraging. Good luck with your NGC 300 too, I'm sure it will be worth the effort :thumbsup:...I used to have to travel a fair way to a dark skis several years ago too, when I lived in Newcastle and it was a pain going back and forth packing and unpacking setup and pull down...:sadeyes: but it builds resilience and intestinal fortitude :lol:



Good to hear you like my cooking Pete :lol:



Glad you think so Col, it was pure coincidence that we were hammering the same object at the same time (me baby sitting my scope and dome in 3 degC...Mike and Trish cuddling up with a nice red :rolleyes: :lol:)....but being a nice big and brightish target, I guess there was a high probability :)



Cool, thanks Marc :)

Mike

[alpal]

You're right Mike,
Talking of Chile - I had to have a look - wow.
Still - what amateurs can do with 1% of the money doesn't
make the results from Chile 100 times better.


http://www.chart32.de/images/phocagallery/galleries/galaxies/ngc55gx_halrgb_70.jpg


2-panel mosaic
Ha-LRGB (Ha 11x40m, L 36x20m, R 14x20m, G 14x20m, B 14x20m) total 63 h.
Seeing 0.7-1.1 arcsec 80cm f/7 Astrooptik Keller corrected cassegrain, FLI Proline 16803, Baader Filters, Prompt 7 CTIO Chile, processing: Johannes Schedle

[SimmoW]

Great image there Mike, yes you must've been blessed with some amazing seeing there, and with no moon to boot! Loved hunting thru your high rez version, good fun and awe inspiring

[h0ughy]

You and your nice scope, camera and filters, flouting your nice results. Not one bit jealous, honest
:prey2: :bowdown:
:cheers:

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Al, thanks for that, I hadn't had a look at CHART32 result, I usually have in the past but have been out of the practise with all the wide angle FSQ imaging in the past year :P. Needless to say, with a much bigger scope at a far superior site, the clarity and resolution of their data is in a totally different league :)



Thanks Simon, it is always exciting when the seeing is good :2thumbs:



:lol: Thanks Dave but watch it, all those emoticon haters out there will stop commenting on your images if you use too many of them :lol:

Mike

[Stevec35]

A nice result Mike

Cheers

Steve

[strongmanmike]

Well Steve, I love Nice (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nice_biscuit#/media/File:Nice_biscuit.jpg) :P

Good with coffee :D

Mike

[gregbradley]

That's a good deep image there Mike.

Greg/.

[LewisM]

Smoking Mike!

(he he ha ha haw haw)

Give that man a cigar!

(BADA BING!)

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Greg :thumbsup:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVOa3xhl0bg

[marc4darkskies]

A compelling image Mike! Very nicely done!

Glad you didn't hold back on the RED! :lol: :eyepop:

[strongmanmike]

Ha ha thanks Marcus :thumbsup:...well Mike and Trish did the same, so nah nah :P...oh and it is "magenta" too fella!

Mik

[Paul Haese]

Nice Mike, resolution is very nice. I wonder what you could see in the back ground with another 20 hours. Lots of tiny little galaxies in the surrounding field.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Paul, glad its nice. To be honest I don't think another 20hrs would do much at all really, except waste some clear nights that I could be shooting a whole new target :D :shrug: look, perhaps it would help smooth out the image a little more I guess and if I was to get similarly good seeing as I had, show a few more of the very faintest stars and make a few of the faintest galaxies a little more obvious but I recon it would be largely a waste of another 3 valuable nights, particularly if the seeing didn't cooperate, which would more likely make it worse :lol: :)

Mike

[Ross G]

An excellent galaxy photo Mike.


So sharp and detailed.


I love the colours.


Ross.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks a lot Ross :thumbsup:

Mike