The faint "Jets" of galaxy NGC 1097

[strongmanmike]

I have always wanted to point the AG12 at this galaxy to try and pick up these curious faint features.

One of these very faint optical "Jets" associated with NGC1097 was first suspected on UK Schmidt plates in 1974 and only confirmed in 1975 with the 4m Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo observatory in Chile

The best evidence based on spectra of the jets and computer simulations suggest that the jets represent the captured remains of a dwarf galaxy that passed through the inner regions of NGC 1097′s disk a loooong time ago.

Unlike some other images I have seen of NGC1097 and these jets, I have not artificially (and inaccurately) enhanced their luminosity and shape by simply lassoing and brightening with some arbitrary border set by me, this is 100% as they appear after stretching, this keeps them in acurate brightness context, in comparison with the main galaxy (respecting the light as it were :question:....:lol:)

Anyway... while not the best I've seen here, the seeing wasn't too bad, so that helped.

FULL FRAME (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/152760089/original)

CLOSE UP (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/152760273/original) of the Jets

At fainter than 27mag/sqr arcsec here is a HIGH CONTRAST NEGATIVE (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/152760644/original) to make the jets clear

This was a fun imaging target and seeing these jets so clearly and in full colour!!..when only a generation or so ago their visibility was only possible with cutting edge imagery using huge 4m class telescopes at the Worlds top Observatory... is very satisfying :)

Mike

[Larryp]

Nice image and those jets look incredible-well done, Mike :thumbsup:

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Outstanding!!!:eyepop:

So unusual the way that one of the jets seems to take a right angle turn, is that a faint one off to the left too?
Mind you the more images I see of galaxies, strange exotic shapes seem more common!

Thanks for sharing Mike!:thumbsup:

[RickS]

Very cool image, Mikey! I was imaging the same galaxy this weekend but haven't done more than a quick & dirty process yet. Now I'll have to do a bloody good job on it just to remain competitive :lol:

I can't see any sign of the fourth jet in my data. Did you pick up any traces of it?

Cheers,
Rick.

[naskies]

Stunning - well done! :) The jet at 1 o'clock seems to shoot out and then suddenly turn towards 5 o'clock near the top-right corner of the image. Any ideas what's going on there?

[RobF]

Wondered if you two had been discussing targets for the weekend! :lol:
Wonderful image Mike. You really do have a skill for making galaxies look natural. Top stuff (and still looking forward to the Leyburn version Rick)

[astroron]

Great work Mike, a pleasure to see such expertise in your images.
A great galaxy to image and with jets to boot.
Cheers:thumbsup:

[RickS]

That jet is called R1 and this structure is called the "dogleg." I found a paper about NCG 1097 where they did N-body simulations of a minor merger and managed to show similar structures forming. The fine details of the paper are incomprehensible to mere mortals, of course :D

[strongmanmike]

Hey thanks guys :) glad you liked it, it came together well in the end I thought. Slightly better seeing would have been better but it was quite ok on the Lum night (thank god) but the RGB night (last night) the seeing was atrocious :doh:

Yes the 4th Jet is there but only a very faint hint :thumbsup:...should have kept collecting data buuuut meah.. as I've said before, I get bored :lol: hence one of the reasons why I got an F3.8 scope :P

Mike

[alpal]

Hi Mike,
another brilliant image - this time Fornax.
You really are churning them out.
Keep them coming.

cheers Allan

[dvj]

Really great stuff Mike! Keep them coming!

[DavidU]

How good's that !!!!:thumbsup:

[cybereye]

Mike,

Simply awesome. :thumbsup:

Mario

[gregbradley]

A magnificent image Mike. One of your best.

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

Very nice Mike. Heaps of detail, colour is ok but looks a little magenta over the entire frame. Still a great image. I have had this target on my RC12 imaging list for over 2 years and wondered what it would look like given that larger scopes produce very detailed images. There are not many images produced by a 12" scope out on the web. Your image has got me thinking this might be a great target after all. I will not get to it this year as commissioning the RC12 will be a couple of months off yet, but next year it will be looking at this object. Thanks for the image and inspiration.

[LewisM]

Look at those really bright jets coming from those brighter stars! WOW! ;) ;) ;)

Nice image mike.

Seems tis again the 1097, HH and M42 season again.

[PRejto]

Superb image, Mike. That camera really rocks! And, you obviously know how to use it to great advantage.

Peter

[jase]

Onya Mike! Great image. The jet extensions are super cool.

[strongmanmike]

Wow, great response guys, thank you very much :ashamed: glad you all liked it :D I was happy with the result and it is one of my favourite galaxy images now :thumbsup:

Good luck processing your version Ricki :thumbsup: remember, don't use that lasso ;)

Oh and sorry'bout the magenta cast Paulie :doh: :sadeyes:...ah well.. good luck using your scope on it next year mate :lol:

Mike

[Bassnut]

Excellent detail, depth and balance Mike, top work

[RickS]

I don't need no steenking lasso, Mikey! I have multiscale processing :lol:

[strongmanmike]

Bah! Multiscalinetriangle my butt....cheating, cheating I say! :lol:

Should be good :thumbsup:

[DJT]

Great image, Mike. Brings to mind the presentation by Jay GaBany on the stellar streams project he is working on at the AAIC, collaborating with astronomers by imaging these streams for them ( or maybe processing, can't recall). You seem to have got the hang of this imaging mullarky. Have you considered getting involved somehow?

[strongmanmike]

I had actually, even got asked by an Aussie group some time ago, before the amazing AG12 arrived, they saw my deep Centaurus A image I think :question:...don't know what happened with that actually, I was planning on taking the scope up to Coona even and maybe getting some accommodation there a few weekends :question: so I agree, it is something that I might consider getting involved with...

Mike

[John Hothersall]

Those jets are hard to get showing the dynamic range of the 694.

John.

[strongmanmike]

Hey Fred, is it narrow field enough for you :shrug: :P

Mike

[strongmanmike]

Hi John, it is a relatively small chip but man this camera rocks, my data collection and processing flow is so ridiculously simple now :thumbsup: The ProLine with it's massive 16803 chip and deep wells is still fantastic and will see light again once I get my hands on a longer FL scope ;) however I will never question OAG again though...this is like a revelation to me, previously with the big ProLine on the AG12 I was even getting slight trailing in 5min exposures using piggyback, now sub length is no issue :D.

Mike

[David Fitz-Henr]

Very nice Mike; intricate detail showing in the galaxy core (dust lanes) and arms (blue knotty regions presumably rich in new star formation) and those galaxy jets look great :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Phil Hart]

Great imaging Mike. Very impressive target and result. :thumbsup: I hadn't noticed your camera switch before.. seems to be working a treat!

FWIW, I don't think Paul is too far off with his magenta comment. It's tricky because the eye is led by the colour in the core of the galaxy but I would tend to agree that the background and even perhaps the mid-range stars have a very slight magenta cast. If you were chasing perfection, I'd try the tiniest of tweaks..

Phil

[strongmanmike]

Cheers David, thanks for noticing the subject :lol: :rolleyes: :thumbsup:



He he juuuust being light hearted above Phil :nerd: :P Yes, I did notice the magenta/blue tint in some of the mid range stars but I had already posted and couldn't be bothered fixing it (lazy) if I send it to anyone important I'll tweak it as you say ;)

Cheers big ears :thumbsup:

[cosmophoton]

An inspiring work Mike! We are fortunate to live in this epoch, with such wonderful technology within our reach.
Cheers,
Luiz

[Shiraz]

what a wonderful image Mike - bravo. As for "respecting the light", couldn't agree more - it took millions of years to get here and we should have the courtesy to allow it to tell it's own story, not impose our own view :). Maybe we need Zen astronomy ???

This hobby sure is heading in an interesting direction with high res and sensitivity being available from smaller scopes. regards Ray

[multiweb]

Sublime shot. Really nice colors and details. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[rogerg]

Great galaxy... great shot :)

[iceman]

Stunning work Mike, brilliant result.

[strongmanmike]

Yep...who knows what amateurs will be producing in a generation :eyepop: I recon Meade will come out with a true AO system complete with laser and infra red sensor :)



Ommmm Ommmmm Peace brother :prey2:

Hey, I have produced plenty of images that don't respect the light in my time and certainly some that don't respect the colour palette gods :P..but in this case and when surfacing faint structures to me it is only faithful if the structures remain faint looking...if that makes sense :question: ya know what I mean :shrug:

Mike



Thanks Marc



Great compliment :thumbsup:



Thanks Mike

[marc4darkskies]

Outstanding Mike!! :thumbsup: You're on a roll mate!! Great detail, streams are very impressive and colour saturation is just right!

Cheers, Marcus

[strongmanmike]

Onya Marcus cheers mate :)

Apart from the fine image scale the biggest thing is really the OAG, it works wonders and combined with better seeing and finally the wind now being a thing of the past!!! it is nice to be able to finally feel I have opened the throttle on this scope :thumbsup: I would like to put the PL16803 back on but with an OAG...might leave it for a longer FL cassegrain type scope though ;)...BTW where's yours..?

Mike

[Ross G]

What an amzing galaxy photo Mike!

So sharp and detailed

I love the colours and as usual, such nice composition.

Amongst the best I've seen.

Ross.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Ross, my favourite too now :D....shame the Moon is back :rolleyes: :doh:

Mike

[multiweb]

Another corker. Love the colors you get in your galaxy shots. You've got the process down pat. :thumbsup:

[LewisM]

How rude of us to not wish a lady her KNOWN 223rd birthday.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY 1097 ;)

(Herschel discovered it on 9 Oct 1790)

[Stevec35]

That's a great NGC1097 Mike. Well done!

Cheers

Steve

[astronobob]

Far-out ! You Captured that elusive 4th jet, mighty credit to ya on that, the whole image is fantastic & must be great to attempt such challanging targets with results Mike, Awesome to see. Good Onya :cool3:

[strongmanmike]

Thanks for looking guys and glad you liked it :D

I wonder if Ms Herschel could see the jets :question:

Mike

[naskies]

With a surface magnitude of 26.4 (R) and 27.0 (B) (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1984MNRAS.211..707C) for the dogleg, I'd hazard a guess that would be a "no"... :question:

[strongmanmike]

Yeah and that's the brightest of the four jets too :eyepop: jet 3 and especially 4 (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/152760644/original) must be closer to 30 mag/squ/arc sec, amazing...seems a 12" scope today can go deeper in about 4 hrs than a 150" telescope could in 1.5hrs back in 1979 :)

Mike

[naskies]

Here are some published photometric measurements (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1997AJ....114..115W)for surface magnitude:

R1: Blue=26.2, Visual=25.7
R1 dogleg: B=26.6, V=26.0
R2: B=26.7, V=26.2
R4: B=27.6

These are just the peak surface magnitudes - most of jets' area would be fainter than that, as you predict. The paper says that the R1 and R2 jets are blue in colour near 1097, but they couldn't measure any colours further out or in the dogleg.

I'd argue that the R4 jet is teetering just below the noise limit of your image (I couldn't see it at all even with the label at first; but now having read a few papers and studied some deep images I think I can see it... hmmm).

Getting down to mag 26-27 with 8 hours of imaging is bloody impressive :thumbsup: Are you suuuuure you don't want to go mega-data on this? :P

[lazjen]

Very nice. I like it.

[strongmanmike]

And that was without flats or darks to boot :D



I did consider it for sure but as mentioned... got bored :lol: :question: :doh:

[Nicola]

Probably a little bit magenta shift, but the detail is super.

[strongmanmike]

Ah yes Nicola the Universe is indeed purple :thumbsup:

[alpal]

There is an APOD today of these NGC 1097 jets from Martin Pugh:

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131114.html

[Paul Haese]

Yep Martin showed me this about a week ago. Stunning detail up close.

[dvj]

Martin's image made APOD today. It's interesting to covert it to grayscale, invert and stretch.

[Geoff45]

Great shot Mike. Another one on my to-do list.
Geoff

[alpal]

Was it Mike who gave Martin the idea to image the jets?

[gregbradley]

We do tend to inspire each other with good target choices but this one has been imaged in the past by several. I imaged this myself several years ago and captured 2 of the jets with a Tak BRC250 F5 and Microline 8300 camera from my dark site.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Geoff :thumbsup:

As lovely as it is, not really quite sure on the relevance of Martins image in this thread...