The Bubble Galaxy

[DiscoDuck (Paul)]

My final bit of processing from a recent dark sky visit.

The Bubble Galaxy NGC 3521. Kinda cool that the shell is apparently the remnants of cannibalised satellite galaxies

About 9 hours of luminance and 4.5 RGB. RC8 and ASI1600MM-C on a Mach1.

Full res on Astrobin.

Comments/suggestions welcome.

Edit: Oh, and it must be pointed out that it's a flocculent spiral. Great word!!

[Andy01 (Andy)]

Cool target, looks good, would you consider rotating the image 90 degrees anti-clockwise?

[DiscoDuck (Paul)]

Originally Posted by Andy01

Cool target, looks good, would you consider rotating the image 90 degrees anti-clockwise?

Thanks Andy.

Rotation? Hmm. That might explain why I had a sore neck from twisting too much while processing it

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Well Flocc me...that is flocculent Paul, nice job

It's a cool looking galaxy, there is a faint extended halo with faint shells, if you go really deep.

Mike

[DiscoDuck (Paul)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Well Flocc me...that is flocculent Paul, nice job

It's a cool looking galaxy, there is a faint extended halo with faint shells, if you go really deep.

Thanks Mike. Nice to know - but I may need more patience to go much deeper!

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by DiscoDuck

Thanks Mike. Nice to know - but I may need more patience to go much deeper!

Superb picture Paul. No patience needed to go deeper. The good thing about digital is you can do a couple of hours next year, and the next year, and...
A good picture can always be added to at leisure.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Terrific shot.

[DiscoDuck (Paul)]

Originally Posted by Geoff45

Superb picture Paul. No patience needed to go deeper. The good thing about digital is you can do a couple of hours next year, and the next year, and...
A good picture can always be added to at leisure.

Aah. A good point Geoff.

Originally Posted by multiweb

Terrific shot.

Thanks Marc.

[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

Totally awesome! We're very jealous. Didn't know about this one. Can't wait till next year to have a good crack at it.

Beautifully acquired and processed.

MnT

[Atmos (Colin)]

Very good detail Paul

[DiscoDuck (Paul)]

Originally Posted by Placidus

Totally awesome! We're very jealous. Didn't know about this one. Can't wait till next year to have a good crack at it.

Beautifully acquired and processed.

Thanks Mike and Trish. Yeah, saw some images of this on Astrobin and was motivated to have a go.

Originally Posted by Atmos

Very good detail Paul

Thanks Colin.

[gregbradley]

That's a stunning image. Well done.

Greg.

[beren]

Great image, love the detail captured

[DiscoDuck (Paul)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

That's a stunning image. Well done.

Thanks Greg.

Originally Posted by beren

Great image, love the detail captured

Thank you!

[alpal]

A great image Paul.
I would have been tempted to do some more processing on the galaxy:
some local contrast & then a colour boost.


cheers
Allan

[DiscoDuck (Paul)]

Originally Posted by alpal

A great image Paul.
I would have been tempted to do some more processing on the galaxy:
some local contrast & then a colour boost.

Thanks Allan. I'll have a play and see what I can do. Much appreciated.

[codemonkey (Lee)]

Nice one Paul! Love this galaxy. I've been eyeing it off myself, but imaging that far to the north is a bit awkward for me due to a large tree on a neighbouring property behind the observatory. I could probably get 1.5-2hrs on it a night, so maybe I'll give it a shot at some point.

Looks like you've you've got some nice sharp data there. I suspect with 13.8hrs of data on this one you might have gotten away with less noise reduction, which might help bring out the details a bit better.

I'd also be inclined to rotate it 90 degrees anti-clockwise as Andy suggested.

[DiscoDuck (Paul)]

Originally Posted by codemonkey

Nice one Paul! Love this galaxy. I've been eyeing it off myself, but imaging that far to the north is a bit awkward for me due to a large tree on a neighbouring property behind the observatory. I could probably get 1.5-2hrs on it a night, so maybe I'll give it a shot at some point.

Looks like you've you've got some nice sharp data there. I suspect with 13.8hrs of data on this one you might have gotten away with less noise reduction, which might help bring out the details a bit better.

I'd also be inclined to rotate it 90 degrees anti-clockwise as Andy suggested.

Thanks Lee. I might try a repro - not least because I'm busy going through my recently arrived new copy of the second edition of Warren Keller's PI book!

[alpal]

Originally Posted by DiscoDuck

Thanks Allan. I'll have a play and see what I can do. Much appreciated.

Hi Paul,
I could have a go if you want me to but
I think you've already over processed the background -
it looks like it's been blurred slightly to reduce noise?
That blur might have got into the galaxy as well unless you masked it?


cheers
Allan

[DiscoDuck (Paul)]

Originally Posted by alpal

Hi Paul,
I could have a go if you want me to but
I think you've already over processed the background -
it looks like it's been blurred slightly to reduce noise?
That blur might have got into the galaxy as well unless you masked it?


cheers
Allan

The galaxy was masked out during the main noise reduction. As I said, I'll probably reprocess anyway as I want to try a few new tricks. Thanks though.