Rolf Olsen and Mike Sidonio are pleased to present here what we believe to be the deepest colour image, taken in visible light, ever presented of the entirety of the enigmatic and famous galaxy NGC 5128 Centaurus A
This unique image represents a mammoth collaborative integration time of 140 hrs worth of exposure using two different imaging systems:
Rolf Olsen: 120 hrs using a 10" Newtonian and QSI CCD camera from Titarangi an outer suburb of Auckland New Zealand and reaches to at least Mag 25.45 For more on Rolfs results see: http://tinyurl.com/l76cpk5
Mike Sidonio: 20hrs using a 6" Starfire refractor and FLI CCD camera from perfect dark skies at Wiruna, North West of Lithgow Australia and reaches beyond Mag 24. For more on Mikes results see: http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/centaurus_a
We spent several days of back and forth processing versions of our combined work before we finally settled on the following result... so we hope you guys like it as much as we do...and hopefully you will never look at Centaurus A quite the same again
The attached thumbnail is pretty small so we highly recommend you view the larger version here:
That's unreal Mike. Talk of collaboration.
Most of the bright blue stars appear "glowing" for want of a better term, what exactly is that? gas? dust?
is there a professionally imaged version of the object from ground telescopes, and what was that integration time like? would be interesting to compare.
The original and the new version are certainly marvelous images but I'm finding it difficult to see if there is a substantial difference because the new version is significantly lower res than the original
I was initially of the same opinion as Rick, but I can definitely see a subtle improvement in the combined image.
In what areas do you specifically think there has been an improvement by combining the data? (It's a bit harder given the images are rotated 180degrees when I flick between web pages!)
I could see some improvement in the processing of the stars and I got past the 180 degree rotation by downloading copies and rotating one of them. What makes it hard for me to decide is that Rolf's original shows more detail. It's quite possible that's just because it's at higher resolution, but there's no way to know for sure...
As I said before, both fantastic images, but I can't pick an obvious favourite.
Just a note, while both our images are very deep, my image and Rolfs image are different size fields of view so the object of this collaboration was not to increase resolution but to effectively and naturally blend our two data sets into one that would completely showcase the full expanse of this amazing galaxy to an unprecedented depth and we had a few goes at it each. I have displayed the result at 50% on my site in order to make it a little web friendly and easier to appreciate, however, if you wish to see the full resolution versions of our original images I placed appropriate links to our respective Cen A pages in the post and Rolf has the full res version of our collaboration available at his site
I could see some improvement in the processing of the stars and I got past the 180 degree rotation by downloading copies and rotating one of them. What makes it hard for me to decide is that Rolf's original shows more detail. It's quite possible that's just because it's at higher resolution, but there's no way to know for sure...
As I said before, both fantastic images, but I can't pick an obvious favourite.
Tough call Rick but I think I agree with you in relation to resolution. Anyway it's moot as its something I'll never get near to doing in suburban Brisvegas with its temperamental weather.
Allan
Thanks for the kind words everyone. Yes as Mike says the goal of this collaboration was to present the galaxy in its entirety, using a blend of my recent 120 hour image of the main halo area and Mike's earlier 1.6deg x 1.2deg wide field from 2009 that includes the long polar extensions. Together this now shows the galaxy in all its true glory
I do believe that you are entirely correct, and that there is some new information in your utterly brilliant image;
Compare it, for instance, with the famous image of the low-contrast structures which was made by
Peng, Ford, Freeman and White ( 2002, AJ, 124, 3144) using adaptive histogram equalization, or the 'canonical' ultra-deep UKS image by David Malin.
There is more in your image than in any of these!!
Accordingly, I sent an email notifying about your new combined image to a few researchers who have done very recent research about the structure and evolution of Cen A :
Dr Kenneth Freeman (ANU)
Kristin Woodley
Doug Geisler
George Jacoby
Baerbel Koribalski
Gretchen Harris
Dr Duncan Forbes (Swinburne University)
Fantastic Mike, & Mr Olsen, the work is way over my head, but a mighty credit all the same I was wondering about the diagonal glow from top left to low right, obviousely star light, I had it my recent image, wasnt sure about it, so great to see and confirm sought thing!
I must try again with longer subs, This Image is soo impressive when captured accordingly.
Stunner ! ! !
Rolf Olsen and Mike Sidonio!!
