Deep Omega Centauri

[strongmanmike]

There's that word again :lol:..Deeeeep ah well, now I have this awesome scope under dark skies and I am finally getting good conditions with no wind :stargaze:...everything it pumps out is deep even if only using just 32min of exposure!!...heaven knows what it would show with some proper exposure time :eyepop:

I collected the colour and another 90min of Lum for my deep galaxy shot (coming soon) and just had time to squeeze this shot of Omega Centauri in before the twilight stopped proceedings :) She was getting a bit low in the south west for an optimal result but that is the darkest quadrant of my sky that Omega gets in, so I went for her anyway.

Very faint Galactic Cirrus dust permeates the 1.85deg X 1.85deg field but is particularly noticeable across the bottom of the frame -

Full Frame (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/149650513/original) (very little sharpening to maintain that glow)

And for those who juuust love to see inside the core of this giant Galaxy-come-Star Cluster, here is a peek deep inside the beast

The Core of The Giant (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/149650558/original)

Just a quickie! :D

Mike

[DavidU]

There is quite a few stars there LOL.
Love the colours Mike.

[Larryp]

Superb, Mike! I particularly like the full frame:thumbsup:

[rmuhlack]

Score! i've started on M104 (have just under 5 hours at present), but it's out of sight behind a tree at my place by about 3am at the moment. i had been planning a quick run on a glob as well (M4) after 3am, but silly me slept through my alarm :P

Oh well, i'm glad someone had a full night of imaging :lol:

out of interest, what sub times would you recommend for a glob?

[allan gould]

Beautiful image Mike, but to me the blues seem centered high while the reds seem centered low

[strongmanmike]

...huh? :question:

[strongmanmike]

Yes a few million I believe :P



Cheers, did you spot the galactic cirrus dust bottom left..?



Sounds like a project :thumbsup:

I used 2min subs on this Omega...yep 7 X 2min subs for Lum, huh? and you can see the galactic cirrus...blows my mind really :) Of course Omega is very bright, a fainter glob may need longer but I can' imagine needing to go longer than 5 min subs..?

Mike

[h0ughy]

who's a happy boy!!!??? very tantilising Mike

[strongmanmike]

Sure beats New Lambton :rolleyes: :lol: :thumbsup:...same scope but better results, what's the old adage..?...location, location, location ;)

So the order of importance for excellent images is:

1) Location
2) Location
3) Mount
4) Scope
5) Camera
6) Operator

:thumbsup:


Mike

[TrevorW]

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Overwhelming Mike!

Just about need the sun glasses with the full frame version.

First time I've seen that nebulosity near the bottom of the frame.

Cheers,

Justin.

[leon]

Wow that is just awesome Mike, beautiful in fact, well done indeed.

Leon

[strongmanmike]

:thumbsup::thumbsup: right back at ya :P



She is certainly a bright bugger...I really need to do this again when she is higher and go deeper to really show up that Cirrus...the mind boggles :help: :thumbsup:



Wow, Hi Leon , nice to hear from you! I haven't had a comment from you in..?.. years! :sad: :love: Thanks very much glad you like it :thumbsup:

Mike

[peter_4059]

That's magnificent Mike. Love the star colours.

[multiweb]

Cool close up. :thumbsup: I think Allan means chromatic aberration on blue and red stars. Up/Down ringing on the close up.

[John Hothersall]

I would love to try this with long exposure ccd but we still have monsoon in Brisbane, I am getting very dispondent.

Dust above blue star bottom left of centre is intriguing. Having a scope that fast saves lots time when you don't have much to spare.

John.

[astronobob]

Struuuth, last count approx 10 miilion, no i didnt count 'em :rolleyes: but reackon you have missed a few thousand ;)
Dang, hate it when you flex your Astro Ability ;)
Seriously, Very nicely resolved Mike :thumbsup:

[Paul Haese]

LOL that has slightly less noise than my witch head image and that has nearly 10 hours of data. Hmmm thinking, thinking. Tax cheque coming.

Oh nice colour, and trillions of stars.

[Stevec35]

Deep indeed Mike and very well processed.

Cheers

Steve

[DJT]

Beautiful capture, nice galactic dust as well.;)

:thumbsup:

[alpal]

Top image - one of the best I've seen of this target.

[ChrisM]

The full frame image is spectacular Mike. Nice work for a quickie!
Chris

[E_ri_k]

That's ALOT of stars :P
Beautiful
Erik

[strongmanmike]

Thanks fr all the nice comments everyone :love:

Oh and it's not chromatic aberration Allan and Marc but rather I had trouble with the registration on this one, not sure why :question: but Astroart occasionally doesn't get the co registration spot on..may have something to do with the number of stars..dunno..:shrug: anyway since it was a quicky I didn't fuss too much :)

Mike

[allan gould]

Sorry mike, I didn't say "chromatic aberration" just that the reds and blues were not aligned. Still an exceptional image that shows the impact of the scope and conditions.
Allan

[Nortilus]

This is excellent...thing i really love about this image is finding all the little galaxies...

[strongmanmike]

I know mate, I was just replying to you as a pair. You are quite right there is indeed a very slight misalignment there and I should really be a little more careful...I was just so excited about what was being revealed here that I rushed it a tad :whistle:...I will take more care on the deep galaxy image (that I am working on at the moment ;))

Cheers big ears

Mike

[strongmanmike]

Yes I agree, there are a few too, being able to go deeper has kinda made Omega a little more interesting...I think I will hammer a longer exposure next new moon, this was just a handful of 2min exposures.

Mike

[allan gould]

Reminds me of the hubble image of M31 in which as you peer through the cloak of stars there are a myriad of galaxies behind it.

[RobF]

Must admit at first glance I thought the colours were a bit muddy or something :scared3:

Thinking about what I'd do to curves, realised its probably just that your resolving the orange and blue star populations so well compared to the powdery-white view you get with the naked eye.

Yeah, ok, so that means its stunning then :question: :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Yeh it's pretty cool huh? I kinda wished I' had forgone an hour of the Lum I collected for the galaxy image and used that time to go a little deeper and smoother on Omega...ah, maybe next time :thumbsup:



Who knows maybe the colours are a bit muddy :shrug: :P...dunno, I process more like a modern artist (throws the paint here and there until it looks like a naked woman :rofl:) not a regimented routine driven processing robot :P

Mike

[SpaceNoob]

Wow, thats some perspective, hey... stars everywhere! :eyepop:

[SkyViking]

Nice one Mike, Omega Centauri never fails!
Funny I thought of doing a deep Omega just the other day, but was too busy gathering data of another object.
I've found that globular cores blow out if I use subs longer than a few minutes, so your sub length was probably about optimal. :)

[strongmanmike]

Cheers again guys and Rolf, yes I think you may be right...

Mike

[marc4darkskies]

Ho hum - globulars! Wish I could get excited about them! :help::shrug::screwy:

No doubt though - great work there Mike! :thumbsup: The cirrus is the best part IMO! :) Some cool star colours going on in there too!

Cheers, Marcus

[gregbradley]

Its good Mike but not as good as your older AP152 shot. Now that was spectacular. APO's in my opinion are the tool of choice for globs. Compound scopes for some reason seem to miss the mark a tad.

Greg.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Great shot Mike; pay no attention to Marcus, globulars are magnificent !! :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Dave...Marcus?..Marcus who..? :question: :shrug:

Mike :P

[Ross G]

A great photo Mike.

The detail you have captured is amazing!


Ross.

[strongmanmike]

Just a real quicky mate ;)...might hammer her properly next new moon :question:

Mike