The Olsen-Sidonio Centaurus A Extreme Deep Field

[strongmanmike]

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 :thumbsup:

The attached thumbnail is pretty small so we highly recommend you view the larger version here:

Olsen-Sidonio Centaurus A Extreme Deep Field (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/150610685/original)

Mike and Rolf :)

[iceman]

Wow, quite amazing!

[alistairsam]

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.

Cheers

[Stevec35]

Quite incredible. Definitely the best of both worlds.

Cheers

Steve

[h0ughy]

WOW - now thats a APOD

[Larryp]

That's magnificent! So much detail and shows just how extensive this galaxy is:thumbsup:

[RickS]

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 :shrug:

[gregbradley]

Brilliant Mike/Rolf.

Stunningly good processing and what a result. The best of both images clearly coming through.

Greg

[DavidTrap]

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!)

DT

[RickS]

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.

[Regulus]

Wow! Just...WOW!

Trevor

[strongmanmike]

Thanks for the nice comments guys

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 :thumbsup:

Mike (and Rolf) :)

[allan gould]

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

[broca]

:eyepop::prey2: Rolf Olsen and Mike Sidonio!!

[SkyViking]

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 :D

[dvj]

Superb team effort. Brillient quiet honestly. I really hope this gets greater attention than a paltry APOD.

[madbadgalaxyman]

Rolf and Mike,

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)

Best regards,
Robert Lang

[astronobob]

Fantastic Mike, & Mr Olsen, the work is way over my head, but a mighty credit all the same :thumbsup: 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 ! ! !

[CJ]

Mindblowing!

[David Fitz-Henr]

Terrific collaborative work there guys; this latest rendition shows the full extent of the faint polar extensions!

[strongmanmike]

Thanks for checking it out guys, it was fun to be able to resurrect my somewhat infamous :P data from 2008 to complement Rolfs incredible accumulation. Of course, unlike luxurious Rolf, I had to transport all my gear to Wiruna back in 2008 and luckily I got three consecutive clear nights to amass what I thought then was a lot of data..but sheesh 120hrs :shrug: :screwy:... is simply insane and one can only imagine what his result would have looked like if he hadn't been so damn lazy :rolleyes: and done a few more 120hr panels for a full mozaic of his own :lol:

Mike

[DJT]

art meets science.

Congrats on the collaboration and the image, and it looks like some science gets to benefit as well.

Result!

[strongmanmike]

Yes, we will see :thumbsup:

Mike

[Rod771]

Very well done guys! :thumbsup:

Amazing....

[Ross G]

Amazing photo.

This collaboration should catch on.

Ross.

[AG Hybrid]

OUTSTANDING. Something pretty bloody special right there. Should be submitted to APOD.

[madbadgalaxyman]

Mike and Rolf,

As mentioned, I emailed the URL of your combined image to Ken Freeman and several other professional astronomers.

Dr Freeman (of ANU), at least, has replied to me regarding your image, as he is interested in just about every aspect of stellar and Milky Way and extragalactic astronomy.
(most other professionals will ignore you if your email is not directly relevant to their "project of the month")

It was just a very brief reply, indicating that the structures seen in your image may be of additional interest to him, especially as a comparison with his paper presenting an image of Cen A which was made with Adaptive Histogram Equalization.

Incidentally, a galaxy image has to contain some very unusual structure in order to get some serious interest from Dr Freeman......because he knows a lot more about galaxies than the average extragalactic astronomer.

The concern amongst the professionals, regarding your combined image, would probably be something like, 'Is it reproducible from the raw data using some logical process, how was it derived, and are there any artefacts in it?" However, I would have to say that the professionals are not above resorting to "ad hoc" image processing techniques in order to bring out detail in galaxy images.

Most of the people I sent the email to are studying the orbits of planetary nebulae and globular clusters which orbit around NGC 5128, so as to figure out how this galaxy evolved.

On the other hand, Dr Freeman, in the paper I mentioned, modelled the light distribution in an image of N5128.
He has also written a really cool paper on NGC 1316 showing that its outer regions seem to be forming a disk structure (in other words, NGC 1316 may end up looking like the Sombrero).

Best Regards,
Robert

[madbadgalaxyman]

Rolf and Mike,
As mentioned, no answer yet from any of the pros, with the exception of Ken Freeman. (no surprise, as Ken has done research in most every area of astronomy!)

I occasionally manage to make connections between amateur imagers and professional astronomers, but it isn't easy to do.
Most of the pros are so specialized that they can't really look beyond their own Very Narrow area of astrophysics!!
Also, the "pro vs amateur thing" is very much a case of 'apples vs oranges' or 'like chalk and cheese'; the two communities of astronomers inhabit very different cognitive landscapes.

I have something of a history of writing to Dr Freeman (and other pro astronomers) regarding interesting features found in amateur and professional images of galaxies.
Especially regarding those galaxies having either shells or ripples, and regarding elliptical or E/S0 galaxies that have disky structures in their outer regions (e.g. NGC 5128 , NGC 5266, PGC 48896, NGC 474)(also, probably, IC 1459)
(NGC 474 is a Very Disky galaxy-merger product that will probably turn into an S0 galaxy)

For instance, the unusual "broad ripples/waves that are not spiral arms" in the galaxy NGC 474 were so well shown in Marco Lorenzi's image of this galaxy that Dr Freeman wanted Marco's fits file so he could model this galaxy as a galaxy-merger product.

Some correspondence extracts regarding disky 'Galaxy Merger product' galaxies that could nominally be classed as ellipticals or having a mild S0 morphology:

(1) Regarding NGC 5266 to Dr Kenneth C. Freeman (ANU)
"
Robert Lang to Ken Freeman:
The other giant early-type southern system that comes to mind, insofar as it looking like an S0 galaxy or an incipient disk galaxy, is the minor-axis dust lane system NGC 5266. (I have, on file, a Very Good masters thesis about this galaxy by S.Pakzad from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, based on optical observations that I believe that you had a hand in).
I think that R.Morganti was looking at the very unusual HI properties of this object, but I am not aware of any further published work by Morganti regarding N5266. In fact, it still seems remarkable how little has been done regarding N5266.

Ken Freeman to Robert Lang:
Saulius Varnas did a PhD thesis with me on NGC 5266 a long time ago (1987ApJ...313...69). Nice object: the stellar distribution is tumbling end over end, like NGC 5128. The HI is interesting - Elaine Sadler and Raphaela Morganti had several papers on it in the 1990s: huge amount of HI
and very extended.
"

(2) Regarding PGC 48896 to Professor Duncan Forbes (Swinburne University)
"
Robert Lang to Duncan Forbes:
Did you ever get around to studying PGC 48896??
(= ESO 383-076).
I am not nearly so familiar with the range of morphologies found in supergiant S0/E galaxies as are specialists such as yourself, but I am quite familiar with many of the giant E and S0 galaxies found within ~10,000 km/s. While I am not sure about how the *very strange* structure of this galaxy stacks up against those galaxies seen in distant galaxy clusters, the strong asymmetry (or lopsidedness) of the overall light of this galaxy marks it out as a most peculiar object. There seems to be a very pronounced excess of light along one side of the major axis.

I have previously seen similar S0-like overall structure, and similar "waves" or "ripples" or "steps" in the light, in various galaxies that have experienced merger activity, but these features were all in galaxies of more modest luminosity.
In contrast, PGC 48896, judging from its redshift and apparent magnitude, is probably more luminous and physically extended even than NGC 6166(which is normally regarded as one of the most luminous and distended galaxies found within 10,000 km/s).

This is a very severe perturbation for such a giant object....

Regarding PGC 48896 from Dr Freeman to Robert Lang :
Hi Robert
That asymmetry is a bit unusual - if I had to take a guess regarding its origin, I would go for phase-wrapped debris of a fairly recent accretion event - that could generate this kind of asymmetry.

The shells are quite marked on the upper side, especially that first very bright shell. I think some of the more recent simulations may show this kind of asymmetry in the shells (eg Bullock & Johnson 2005).
We've recently done some work on NGC 3923 - spectacular shell system - 22 nested shells !
"
____________________________

NGC 5266 and PGC 48896 are extremely unusual objects, compared to the rest of the population of bright galaxies. That is why I keep waving my arms and calling attention to them!!

Best Regards,
Robert

[strongmanmike]

Hi Robert

Yes we have also let a few Astronomers know about our image. I was familiar with a few guys who attended the International Many Faces of Centaurus A conference in 2009 in Sydney and at which my original Cen A deep field was showcased and I have received a few suggested contacts from Prof Freeman.

This is perfectly ok though as in the end most of the interesting visible light features of Cen A have probably been examined in isolation, we just wanted to compile something that showed them all as a whole in a visually pleasing way I guess? :)

Thanks for your interest though....mr Galaxy man :thumbsup:

Mike

[marco]

An outstanding result, the larger field add beauty to an already excellent image. kudos also on the processing, blending is excellent!

Clear skies
Marco

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Marco, we had several goes each and sent each other the results until we had a version we were both happy with, Rolf is a pleasure to work with :)

Mike

[SkyViking]

A big thanks to everyone for your comments, and thanks Robert for your always interesting and enlightening info. :thumbsup:



Transporting gear... isn't that what strongmen are for Mike? I think it's called Farmers Walk isn't it :lol:
In fact I hope your imaging won't deteriorate now that, like me, you've become all lazy and settled in your obs :lol::P



Ha, is that a challenge Mike...? :D:P

[madbadgalaxyman]

"Just for fun and profit", here are some images of a few other dust-lane ellipticals. These galaxies are all, in my view, excellent challenges for imagers:

NGC 5266:

141352

NGC 3108 :

141353

And finally, here is an elliptical galaxy which contains a very-large-scale and high-contrast disk of dust!! None other than NGC 383:
(the dust disk is shown in the inset at top right)

141354

[jjjnettie]

:) hey, that's a bit of alright !!!
Going to share this one with people I know too. :)

[strongmanmike]

Hey that NGC 5266 is like a mini Cen A :eyepop:



Share away JJJ :thumbsup:

Mike

[SkyViking]

Thanks JJJ :)
And some very interesting galaxies there Robert, thanks for the info. NGC 5266 looks particularly intriguing!