NGC 7424: the lost spiral galaxy

[RickS]

Posting again since this was lost in the IIS restore from backup. Thanks to everyone who already made comments :thumbsup:

A dim galaxy in Grus imaged over three nights at the Qld Astrofest.

Scope: Ceravolo C300 @ f/9 = 2760mm FL, Atlas focuser
Mount: AP900
Camera: U16M
Filters: Astrodon E series Gen 2 LRGB
Guiding: Lodestar / MMOAG
Image scale: 0.67 arcsec/pixel
Exposures: 14x600s R, 10x600s G, 15x600s B, 40x600s Lum (13+ hours, 17.5 hours before rejects)

Higher res version here: http://rickstevenson.smugmug.com/Astro-Photography/2013-08/i-MXRXhWn/0/X3/NGC7424_v4_sRGB_crop-X3.jpg

Constructive criticism appreciated as always...

Cheers,
Rick.

[Elio]

:eyepop:
stunning image :)

[Dennis]

Hey Rick

Although my previous written bytes are now somewhere in the ether due to the IIS server disk failure, it seems this image has improved with age! It is as wonderful and enthralling a piece of work as ever!:):thumbsup:

Cheers

Dennis

[RickS]

Thanks, Elio!



And thanks yet again, Dennis!

[batema]

I saw a preview at Astrofest and this is stunning. very nice to meet you Rick and a beautiful rig you have.

Mark

[strongmanmike]

Yeh I'll put my post back too :D

Great effort Rick, that's a beautiful and faint galaxy and you have done it justice. It reminds me of a kinda smaller version of M101 in the north :question:

Your image has me a bit impatient and excited about finishing my version now (I only have a bit of Lum, so far...buut so far looking good)...perfectly clear here at the moment buuut I'm too tired and I think I am getting the flu :sadeyes:

Mike

[RickS]

Thanks very much, Mark. It was great to meet you and Adam. You guys certainly added some entertainment to those long evenings :lol: Hope you got some great data and didn't fall asleep teaching the first day back.



Thanks, Mike. Look forward to your rendition and I hope you shrug off the lurgy.

[Stevec35]

Nice NGC6744 Rick. It's a difficult one and you have done it well.

Cheers

Steve

[RickS]

It's definitely NGC 7424, Steve, and it is a couple of magnitudes dimmer than NGC 6744. Neither is an easy target!

Thanks,
Rick.

[John Hothersall]

Had my eye on this pone but it is a faint galaxy and at 2.7m fl you have done extremely well, detail in the spiral arm star clouds and around the core is superb.

John

[gregbradley]

Wow Rick. That's a ripper image.

Looks like M101 as Mike said.

As you say its not often imaged.

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

Nice Rick, love the colours.

[allan gould]

Rick, a far better repro and great image. Really like your processing on this one and it's done your great gear justice.
Allan

[RobF]

I did an M101 double-take too Rick. Top shot. Would have loved to hang out at AF. Sounds like a worthwhile trip for you.

[RickS]

Thanks, John! I'd be interested to see what you can do with it if you get a chance.



Thanks, Greg.



Thanks, Paul. I usually have most trouble with the colours so thats good!



Thanks, Allan. It took a few goes to get it right.



Thanks, Rob. It's a shame you missed it. I would have loved to stay longer myself...

[atalas]

Looks great!well done Rick.

[Ross G]

A beautiful galaxy photo Rick.

What a great closeup with good colours and nice composition.


Ross.

[RickS]

Thanks, Louie & Ross!

[RB]

Gorgeous image Rick !

[RB]

Rick my nine y.o daughter just said it looks stunning too !

:thumbsup:

[Shiraz]

outstanding effort Rick - that is only mag24 surface brightness isn't it? To get such detail and colour on something that dim is exceptional. Regards Ray

[RickS]

Thanks, Andrew. That's certainly a vote of confidence!



Thanks, Ray. It is very dim but I wasn't able to find a definitive surface brightness.

[E_ri_k]

Beautiful galaxy. Great image, lots of great colours. Nicely done :)
Erik

[Stevec35]

Sorry Rick - I think I must need new glasses. Whatever galaxy it is it's a very nice image.

[Shiraz]

FWIW, DSO browser lists it at 24.18. regards Ray

[RickS]

Thanks, Erik!



No probs, Steve :lol: Thanks for the comments.



I hadn't seen DSO browser before. A very nice resource. Thanks, Ray!

[Bassnut]

That fair pops out of the screen, all aspects of processing look very well done, balanced . And a lot of data, shows.

[Rod771]

Very nice Rick

Well done :thumbsup:

[Spookyer]

Hi Rick, so that is what you were targeting, great work on a tough target.

Thanks for the help and advice at Astrofest! Hope to meet up again sometime.

cheers
Brett

[h0ughy]

thought the photons were missing near us at astrofest - fantastic colours and details of the arms - absolutely a visual treat

[RickS]

Thanks, Fred!



Thanks, Rod!



Yes, that was what the poor little scope was chasing every night until dawn :) It was nice to meet you too, Brett. See you at AF next year if we don't catch up beforehand!



Thanks very much, H0ughy! I had to keep my scope well away from that Hyperstar set up. There wasn't enough photons for both of them ;)

[astronobob]

Stunning result Rick, 3 nights dedicated to one Image, wow, Im flat out doing 3hrs :rolleyes:
Very creditable stuff :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

According to the LEDA galaxy catalogue NGC 7424 has a fairly dim surface brightness of 23.395 mag/square arc sec compared to NGC 6744 in Pavo at a slightly brighter 22.680 mag/square arc sec ;)

Mike

[RickS]

Thanks for the numbers, Mike. That means that NGC 6744 is nearly twice as bright as NGC 7424 (1.932 times brighter). Having imaged both I can easily believe that. NGC 6744 was a doddle by comparison :D

[prokyon]

Great result! You captured so many details in that small galaxy. :thumbsup:

[RickS]

Thanks, Bob! I'm over the initial phase of chasing 5 objects in one night and trying for better quality. It's hard work though :)



Thanks very much, Werner.

[naskies]

Wow, mag 24... that's a sky-background limited exposure even under those dark skies. Faint indeed!

[RickS]

I'm glad I didn't know that beforehand :lol:

[ChrisM]

Great result Rick, and worthy of your effort.
Chris

[jase]

A top shelf image, Rick! :thumbsup: Beautifully presented. The quantity of data has really paid off no doubt. Sure, we always want more but I suspect you've hit the point of diminishing returns with is target. Well done.

[RickS]

Thanks, Chris & Jase!

[marco]

+1 on my side :thumbsup:

Regards
Marco

[multiweb]

Great shot Rick. Well done. :thumbsup:

[RickS]

Thanks, Marco & Marc!

[ozstronomer]

I keep coming back to this one...simply stunning, worth the 3 days of capture and well processed knowing how dim the object is. :thumbsup:

[RickS]

Thanks, Geoff. Very kind of you. Glad you like it!

[RobF]

Would have been nice to see what the full frame looked like on this one Rick? You really have done a top job presenting a rarely seen galaxy in all its finery.

[RickS]

Thanks, Rob. Peter Ceravolo wanted a look at the full frame so I put a copy here:
http://rickstevenson.smugmug.com/Astro-Photography/HighRes/i-xGbp2kr/O

There's a bright star that I didn't bother to protect since I expected to crop it...

Cheers,
Rick.

[RobF]

Beautiful - thanks for sharing. My first impression is the variety of wonderful star colours and ?galactic cirrus that jumps out at you - again a sign of well processed quality data. Wonder if the material at 5 o'clock near the star is related? Stars are a bit softer in the full frame too of course, with exception of the "Dr Who intro" blazer :D

Time well spent at AF really putting the scope through its paces. You must feel a lot more confident in what it can do now.

[RickS]

Thanks, Rob. I made a cursory attempt to identify the fuzzy area near the star without success. I was planning to look further when I get a chance.

Yes, I'm very happy with the scope and know it will perform. I just need to upgrade my processing skills to match!

Cheers,
Rick.

[firstlight]

Simply stunning Rick, I can't add to what has already been said.

Hope to catch up with you sometime soon, if not it will be next Astrofest.

[RickS]

Thanks, Tony. It was great to catch up for a couple of days. Hopefully I'll see you again before the next AF... I'm having a great time down here at AAIC 2013 this weekend!