NASA APOD - Star Cluster Omega Centauri in HDR ( NGC 5139 )

[mikeoday005]

Could not wait to tell people that I was just notified that my image of Omega Centauri will be published as a future NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day ( APOD ) - my first ever

I will update the thread when they publish.

[AstralTraveller (David)]

Congratulations! Nice shot. What are the details??

[mikeoday005]

Originally Posted by AstralTraveller

Congratulations! Nice shot. What are the details??

Thanks David.

Notes from my flickr image ...

A deep look at Omega Centauri ( NGC 5139 ) - by Mike O'Day

This image is an attempt to look deeply into the mighty Omega Centauri star cluster and, by using HDR techniques, record as many of its faint members as possible whilst capturing and bringing out the subtle colours of the stars, including in the core.

Image details:
( from nova.astrometry.net )
Size: 58.6 x 39 arcmins,
Centre: 13h 26 min 50.4 sec, -47deg 28' 39.1''.
Orientation: up is -89.9 East of North ( ie. E^ N> ).

Telescope: Orion Optics CT12 Newtonian ( mirror 300mm, fl 1200mm, f4 ).
Corrector: ASA 2" Coma Corrector Quattro 1.175x.
Effective Focal Length / Aperture : 1410mm f4.7.

Mount: Skywatcher AZ Eq6 GT.
Guiding: TSOAG9 Off-Axis-Guider, Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2, PHD2 .

Camera:
Nikon D5300 (unmodified) (sensor 23.5 x 15.6mm, 6016x4016 3.9um pixels).

Location:.
Blue Mountains, Australia.
Moderate light pollution ( pale green zone on darksitefinder.com map ).

Capture:
9 sets of sub-images with exposure duration for each set doubling ( 1s to 240s ) all at ISO800.

Processing:.
Calibration: master bias, master flat and no darks.
Integration in 9 sets.
HDR combination.
Pixinsight

May 2017

[RickS (Rick)]

Congrats!

[Andy01 (Andy)]

WooHoo!, Onya

[mikeoday005]

Originally Posted by RickS

Congrats!

Thanks Rick

[mikeoday005]

Originally Posted by Andy01

WooHoo!, Onya

Thanks Andy

[gregbradley]

Congrats Mike. The handling of the core is way better than normal and the resolution shows individual stars with spaces in between. Haven't seen that before.

Greg.

[mikeoday005]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Congrats Mike. The handling of the core is way better than normal and the resolution shows individual stars with spaces in between. Haven't seen that before.

Greg.

Thank you Greg, much appreciated.

Here is a higher resolution version on Flickr ( slightly different processing than the version I think they have chosen - slight colour shift away from green and a few more faint stars ):

https://flic.kr/p/Ur1ueo

[gregbradley]

Yep its a beauty. Also I think the colouration is quite accurate as the recent posting by Rick shows how it could be processed.

I look at my own best version and whilst its very detailed etc I have tended to go down the blue colouration. I'll have to reprocess it now
keeping in mind these globs consist mostly of old yellow stars with outer blue stragglers.

Greg.

[mikeoday005]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Yep its a beauty.

Greg.

Cheers Greg.

[topheart]

Wow!
Very good!!

Cheers,
Tim

[Peter Ward]

An APOD always looks good on the CV.

Well done

[SimmoW (SIMON)]

That's great, go Aussies! Lovely return for effort/exposure times!

[mikeoday005]

Originally Posted by SimmoW

That's great, go Aussies! Lovely return for effort/exposure times!

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

An APOD always looks good on the CV.

Well done

Originally Posted by topheart

Wow!
Very good!!

Cheers,
Tim

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

[Bart]

O.M.G! That's the stuff! Love the flicker version way better than the one in this thread.

[DJT (David)]

Congrats on the APOD. Stunning stuff.!

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Yes - fantastic image and a well deserved APOD.
Congratulations!

[mikeoday005]

Originally Posted by Retrograde

Yes - fantastic image and a well deserved APOD.
Congratulations!

Originally Posted by DJT

Congrats on the APOD. Stunning stuff.!

Originally Posted by Bart

O.M.G! That's the stuff! Love the flicker version way better than the one in this thread.

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

[mikeoday005]

Final version sent to APOD ( not sure which one they will choose to use )

Medium size ( 2732 x 1859 ): https://flic.kr/p/VSeCiX

Small size ( 1175 x 800) attached below ...