Unusual distorted elliptical galaxy NGC1316

[gregbradley]

Another of the galaxy series I imaged over the New Years break.

A distorted enormous Elliptical galaxy. Its severly distorted no doubt by its large companion galaxy.

TEC180 fluorite, Starlight Express Trius 694, PMX mount with MMOAG and STi guider and Tak flattener.

http://upload.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/154225916/large regular size

http://upload.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/154225916/original large size

Greg.

[RickS]

That certainly is another interesting galaxy, Greg! Good to see some more unusual targets.

Cheers,
Rick.

[nebulosity.]

Thats awesome Greg! love those little background galaxies as well :thumbsup:

Jo

[gregbradley]

Thanks Rick. I've done this one before but I wanted to image it from a totally dark site to capture more of that distorted shape.



Thanks Jo. Yes its amazing how many background galaxies there are in a dark site image.

Greg.

[allan gould]

Greg
Nice image which has captured the really faint extensions of these galaxies but you sould do a Sidonio as the core details are burnt out ( if you dont mind see http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment_browse.php?a=153920 ) and I feel these details are what turns this galaxy into a very interesting object as the dust seen at the core has apparently come from a recent merger with another galaxy which has led to the distortion seen.
But I really like the very, very faint stuff captured in your image.
Allan

[gregbradley]

Thanks Allan. I did a repro and you are right there was a lot of detail in the core area. In fact the shell structure came out very clearly so the remnants of the swallowed galaxy are visible plus the dust lanes and shell structure very much like the Cent A super long exposure images show.

Same link.
Greg.

[allan gould]

Hmmmm, tasty now.
Allan

[gregbradley]

Thanks for your critique Allan.

Greg.

[Geoff45]

Lots of subtle detail Greg. A (hypothetical) ET living in one of the galaxies would get get a pretty awesome view of the other one.
Geoff

[gregbradley]

Thanks Geoff. I am happy with how it turned out. It was taken over a few nights and it was a bit windy some of the time which caused some problems.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

Here's a photo of the equipment:

http://upload.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/154231648/large

Greg.

[Geoff45]

Impressive!

[gregbradley]

Its a very large refractor. It would be hard imagine handling a 200mm TEC but they are around. They are an ED glass lens.

Greg.

[SkyViking]

You've certainly picked up a lot of faint outer structure from this super interesting galaxy Greg, well done. That one is on my todo list as well, it's a lovely interacting galaxy.
If I should say something it would be that there is still more dust detail in the bright core area, the dark pattern extends right across the core from one side to the other, like Cen A. Maybe it's possible to enhance it, or is the core already very bright in the raw data? (I don't know as I've never tried imaging this galaxy) Hope you don't mind :)

[gregbradley]

Thanks Rolf. I did notice that in one play with the data but it was very faint.

OK, I worked on that and got more of the dust lane. Thanks for the tip. Same links.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

I found I had another 110 minutes of CDK17 and FLI Proline 16803 data I've added to the luminance which brought it up a bit more.

Same links.

Greg.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Great work Greg!:thumbsup:

Your repro has really made a difference to the core, has the whole package now!

Cheers,

Justin.

[glenc]

Greg, that is the best image I have seen of those two galaxies.
Both of them were found by James Dunlop.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Justin. The repro made a big difference. Finding some CDK data I already had also helped.



Thanks very much Glen. I was happy to get the data. It was windy on a couple of nights and the big refractor is prone to wind. I plan to modify my observatory next time I am there to make it windproof. I had a bright idea as I was leaving last time how to handle it easily.

Greg.

[Shiraz]

difficult object - very nice image. Regards Ray

[gregbradley]

Thanks Ray.

Greg.

[Nicola]

Excellent image Greg. I enjoy to see those concentric shells...

[gregbradley]

Thanks Nicola. I was surprised they came out so clearly. I have imaged this before and I did not get a hint of those.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Yeah Greg, I recon your best effort on this galaxy so far, some lovely detail showing there and quite natural looking too, well done mate :thumbsup:

Mike

[gregbradley]

Thanks Mike. I was happy with the final outcome. If I can overcome this bloat issue I think the TEC180 is not a bad galaxy imaging machine at my dark site.

Greg.

[Ross G]

A great looking galaxy photo Greg.

I love all the detail you have captured.

You're becoming the galaxy king!

Ross.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Ross for the compliment. I am quite into galaxies at the moment but then those LMC nebs are alluring as is the Horsehead!

I do have 4 more galaxies I started imaging that I want to do more of. I might also do hybrid images with CDK17 and TEC180 data added together.

I made a baffle for the Trius and swapped filters last night for a trial. Hard to tell but it looks promising that I may have handled the bright star bloat. It may just be the need for a baffle.

Greg.

[dvj]

You sure do have a lot of telescopes. I can't keep up.

[marc4darkskies]

Very nice Greg. Being picky, you've got a bit of colour blotching noticeable in the galaxy though.

Cheers, Marcus

[gregbradley]

True!



Thanks Marcus. I had another look. I don't see any colour blotching on my monitor. I do see some patches of brown which I assume are areas of dust interspersed through the galaxy?

Greg.