NGC 4945, 4976 (and many others!)

[Ryderscope (Rodney)]

Whilst I didn't do any imaging at SPSP2019, the weather did allow some time to process a data set on NGC4945 that I brought with me to the Star Party

Data set captured during March/April and presents NGC 4945, 4976 and many other background galaxies. Image comprised of RGB data captured with my Tak TSA120 and QSI683 CCD camera.

Link to image on Astrobin is here.
Click on image in Astrobin for a larger version.

Comments and critique welcome.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Lovely image Rod, nicely composed did I see that at SPSP..?

Mike

[Ryderscope (Rodney)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Lovely image Rod, nicely composed did I see that at SPSP..?

Mike

Thanks Mike and yes we were chatting about it at SPSP. I was trying to hunt down one of the mysterious background galaxies which I eventually found on the SIMBAD database.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Ryderscope

Thanks Mike and yes we were chatting about it at SPSP. I was trying to hunt down one of the mysterious background galaxies which I eventually found on the SIMBAD database.

Ah yes, of course...I even suggested using Simbad

Mike

[Ryderscope (Rodney)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Ah yes, of course...I even suggested using Simbad

Mike

Exactly, and thanks for the suggestion as well. And for the benefit of others who may be wondering what we are talking (posting?) about, I shall explain.

There was one (of the many) background galaxies that caught my eye and I decided that I would hunt down the catalogue number for it. It sort of looked like a galaxy but I thought that it could have been a PN as well. See attached images for the location of the object. Having checked my usual resources (Sky Safari Pro, Stellarium etc.) I couldn't find it so following Mike's suggestion I ventured into SIMBAD.

SIMBAD, being a science based resource, does not have an overly intuitive interface so takes a little bit of nutting out to drive it. A good thing to do on a rainy day at a star party . There are a number of search criteria that one can use to search for an object and the one that I finished up using was a location based search where you provide the coordinates and a search radius.

Using the approximate location of the object (taken from Stellarium) and a search radius of 5 arc minutes, SIMBAD presented a list of four objects which included one galaxy. Clicking on the link for the galaxy entry provided additional details and an image of the very object I was looking for - Voila!. We were very pleased with ourselves.

The galaxy itself does not seem to have a catalogue number apart from the reference to the 6dFGS sky survey and a position number. If you want to take a look at the output from the search query on SIMBAD, click here.

Thanks again Mike for your suggestion, it was a good fun little project and a good thing to do on a rainy day at a star party

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Deffo looks like a distant spiral galaxy you have there Rod, nice bit of investigation...better than just resorting to the usual time filling activity when the weather is inclement at as star party..ie

Mike

[multiweb (Marc)]

Nice one Rodney.

[Ryderscope (Rodney)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Nice one Rodney.

Thank you Marc.

[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

Well done, Rodney. To have captured at least half a dozen distant galaxies behind the dust and glare of the Milky Way is doing well. The star colours are beautiful, as is the general feeling of the image.

[Ryderscope (Rodney)]

Originally Posted by Placidus

Well done, Rodney. To have captured at least half a dozen distant galaxies behind the dust and glare of the Milky Way is doing well. The star colours are beautiful, as is the general feeling of the image.

Thanks you very much MnT.

[Andy01 (Andy)]

Great detective work there Rodney, nicely composed triplet too

[gregbradley]

A really appealing image. The stars look great an terrific colour throughout. Nice that Tak TSA120 eh?

I am wondering why there are some diffraction spikes on some of the star when you used an APO scope? Something to do with the sensor microlenses?

Greg.

[Ryderscope (Rodney)]

Originally Posted by Andy01

Great detective work there Rodney, nicely composed triplet too

Originally Posted by gregbradley

A really appealing image. The stars look great an terrific colour throughout. Nice that Tak TSA120 eh?

I am wondering why there are some diffraction spikes on some of the star when you used an APO scope? Something to do with the sensor microlenses?

Greg.

Thanks Andy and Greg. I have pondered from time to time Greg as to why one would get diffraction spikes from a refractor. There seems to be mixed views on this with some suggestion that it is to do with the spacers in the optical tube. I am running the Tak reducer so I don’t know if this contributes. Generally though I don’t find them offensive so I am ok to just let them be.