After 10 months of almost exclusively using the 4deg X 4deg wide field FSQ106EDX4-PL16803 combo, I felt like doing some high resolution imaging again ...so I changed over to the AG12 this week (Just a 10sec USB cable switch around and a couple of different boxes ticked in the camera control software..easy!) and hit some galaxies
NGC 7125 and 7126 in Indus are 160 Million light years away, so are fairly faint (especially NGC 7126 - the upper galaxy which has a low surface brightness) and both quite small on the sky too at under 3 arc min in size each (a far cry from what I have been hitting with the FSQ-FLI setup in recent times ). There aren't many shots of this pair on the net which is surprising really, as they do make for a nice photogenic pair of spiral galaxies. I like the faint sweeping outer arms of NGC 7126, they remind me of NGC 1300 in Eridanus or NGC 1566 The Spanish Dancer galaxy in Dorado. There are plenty of back ground and much more distant galaxies sprinkled throughout the field too.
Conditions weren't too bad either and it was fun to be back in the higher resolution seat again...hope you enjoy the view
A beautiful contrast between the two galaxies brought out by careful processing: one has tightly wound but faint spiral arms and a very bright warm coloured centre, the other has a small central bar and loosely wound arms with intense star formation.
As you said, the field is studded with distant galaxies and is pretty and fun to explore.
Extremely deep for 9 hours, suggesting dark skies and excellent processing.
A beautiful contrast between the two galaxies brought out by careful processing: one has tightly wound but faint spiral arms and a very bright warm coloured centre, the other has a small central bar and loosely wound arms with intense star formation.
As you said, the field is studded with distant galaxies and is pretty and fun to explore.
Extremely deep for 9 hours, suggesting dark skies and excellent processing.
:thum bsup:
Thanks Mike (or is it Trish?...I'm guessing Mike ...) Yes, I really liked the out come, a lovely field, was well worth the two work nights I went out to my observatory and the barely 4 hrs sleep each night before going to work....
A beautiful image Mike. I missed your fantastic images of less known gems of the nightsky - please keep them coming
Quote:
Originally Posted by Geoff45
Good one Mike. Good detail for such small objects. I'll miss the wide fields though.
Geoff
Ha ha yeah sorry guys...I'll probably try and mix it up a bit more now that the novelty of the beautiful FSQ and the wide fields, has waned a little The two systems are so easily switched between and both work essentially perfectly, it sure is a cool duo to have at my fingertips
Yes saw those in my search too Al, I would love Jim Riffles 18" F2.8 fork mounted Centurion 18 beauty!..in fact I know his folio of work with that scope well, in the early 2000's it was some of the best amateur imaging being done in the World and he had one located at Leyburn QLD that took that picture.
Yes saw those in my search too Al, I would love Jim Riffles 18" F2.8 fork mounted Centurion 18 beauty!..in fact I know his folio of work with that scope well, in the early 2000's it was some of the best amateur imaging being done in the World and he had one located at Leyburn QLD that took that picture.
Mike
Thanks Mike,
I didn't know that.
He certainly wasn't shy about leaving noise in his picture
yet it still looks great - a lot of detail & he's gone deep.
Thanks Mike,
I didn't know that.
He certainly wasn't shy about leaving noise in his picture
yet it still looks great - a lot of detail & he's gone deep.
cheers
Allan
Yes, noise in images is a little overated IMO but still, it would have been better had he collected a bit more data I am sure. Having sad that I have captured more galaxy extensions than he did and smoother, so more exposure on a smaller slower (not much slower F2.8 vs F3.8) scope can still work
Nice pair Mike! I also like looking around the rest of the field with cute background galaxies. There is one lot on the lower left that kind of looks like gravitational lensing. But it probably just the position of them.
Nice pair Mike! I also like looking around the rest of the field with cute background galaxies. There is one lot on the lower left that kind of looks like gravitational lensing. But it probably just the position of them.
Yeah I think so, capturing faint gravitational lensing arcs might be theoretically achievable with my rig and location... but rather difficult I'd say...
Been enjoying your wide field stuff, but I reeeaaaaally enjoy your obscure tiny stuff - the little galaxies and planetaries. Looking forward to more...
Been enjoying your wide field stuff, but I reeeaaaaally enjoy your obscure tiny stuff - the little galaxies and planetaries. Looking forward to more...
A beautiful result, Mikester. Needs a few worms though More seriously, good to see you doing high res imaging again just as I've gone wide-field. Ying/Yang?
A couple of faint fuzzies eh Mike? Got the itch for some galaxies. A good image, really a 40 hour job but it still turned out well.
Naaah as a non automated imager, me never gunna spend that amount of time on this sort of shot, just not worth it, don't think it would have revealed anything much else anyway
Quote:
Pretty cool you can just quickly change a few leads and you're good to go.
Yeah it's great, looking forward to my next target
Quote:
Originally Posted by RickS
A beautiful result, Mikester. Needs a few worms though More seriously, good to see you doing high res imaging again just as I've gone wide-field. Ying/Yang?
Yeah I used Decon too, so it can be done without unearthing those dreaded worms...it can Heck you have a mega wide field mate...camera lenses of all things ...some nice results though
...so I changed over to the AG12 this week (Just a 10sec USB cable switch around and a couple of different boxes ticked in the camera control software..easy!) and hit some galaxies 
). There aren't many shots of this pair on the net which is surprising really, as they do make for a nice photogenic pair of spiral galaxies. I like the faint sweeping outer arms of NGC 7126, they remind me of NGC 1300 in Eridanus or NGC 1566 The Spanish Dancer galaxy in Dorado. There are plenty of back ground and much more distant galaxies sprinkled throughout the field too.
...) Yes, I really liked the out come, a lovely field, was well worth the two work nights I went out to my observatory and the barely 4 hrs sleep each night before going to work.... 
The two systems are so easily switched between and both work essentially perfectly, it sure is a cool duo to have at my fingertips 
