NGC2442 "the Meat Hook"

[Paul Haese]

This is the latest image out of Clayton Observatories. Totalling 27.5 hours of data with 15.5 hours in luminance. NGC2442 also known as the Meat Hook Galaxy or the Cobra Galaxy. It is a faint object at Mag 11.2 and lies at a distance of 50 million light years. I found that even subs of 30 minutes presented problems with noise once lots of stretching occurred.

Of interest in the field of view are quite a variety of galaxy types. There also appears to be some cirrus across the field, though I am happy to be corrected if this is not the case.

The dome GSO RC12 system is now fully operational with imaging runs being conducted on every clear night. Though some flexure still exists which is affecting the star shapes in the corners at present (I have had to crop this image by 10%), though the manufactures, retailers and I have been working on a viable solution to the existing minor problem.

As you can see the optics which are typical for GSO RC's provide a sharp view of this object. It has taken over 2 years for me to present another image taken with set of optics and I am reasonably pleased with the results. I look forward to many hours of imaging with this system and have started a collection of Galaxies and narrow field objects I would like to image in the coming years.

I still feel the need to collect a lot more data on this object to eliminate the noise and will present a revised once I have completed the task. Though for now I present this view.

Click here (http://paulhaese.net/MeatHookGalaxyNGC2442.html)for higher resolution image.

[graham.hobart]

That's really rather lovely Paul. Lots to see in the background as well.
Good one!
Cheers
Graham.

[Mighty_oz]

Nice looking galaxy there, are u going to be running both scopes at the same time now ? We'll all have trouble keeping up with u then lol.

[rmuhlack]

Outstanding. You must be happy with that!

[Astro_Bot]

Noise? What noise?

That's a terrific shot, and an attractive galaxy. :thumbsup:

[multiweb]

Wow! Exceptional in every respect. You're the new galaxy guy. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[allan gould]

Wow, that's a ripper Paul that should put paid to all the nay Sayers out there about the quality of the GSO RC's. Love the colour and detail as its the best I've seen of that galaxy.
Allan

[rustigsmed]

that is fantastic. great detail in the galaxy, the full res is must see!
great to see you up and imaging again Paul.

Cheers,

Rusty

[alpal]

Hi Paul,
that already looks great.
I've compared it to an APOD

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070315.html

& another pic

http://www.starshadows.com/_img/image/gallery/2/NGC2442_master_ST10XME.jpg

& yours looks just as good - if not better.
The aqua colour of the galaxy arms may be up for debate though?
I'm not sure.

cheers
Allan

[rogerg]

Spectacular image :thumbsup: Great colour variation.

I am not sure I'd call it a faint object thought ... :question:

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the comments.




Yes both systems are operational, so both will be collecting data on any clear night generally. With my propensity to gather lots of data I doubt I will be keeping up with you lot. ;)



Trust me it is there. I can see it, but it is nice that lots of monitors don't show it well.



Not sure about that Marc. Nice of you to say that but I reckon I still have plenty to learn. Having a scope that can do narrow field imaging is a big step forward though.



Yeah that was my thinking too Allan. Next will come the I have a hand picked scope, blah, blah, blah. Thanks for the compliment on the image.



Thanks Allan, I saw those and was interested in them for comparison. I agree on the colour too, its up for debate. Certainly I will be revisiting this once I get the final data.

[Paul Haese]

Faint enough for f8 though Roger. I found 20 minute subs were too faint, so I figure it was faint at mag 11.2. I stand corrected. :)

[Joshua Bunn]

WOW! that really is top notch Paul. I would be interested to hear where you think the source of your flexure is coming from?

Josh

[atalas]

Very fine work Paul.

[Paul Haese]

The mirror cell currently connects directly to the imaging train. On really heavy imaging trains some flex occurs. The mirror cell and rear adapters are being redesigned to take heavy loads. When I say heavy loads I mean like I have on the back of my scope. Loads half that weight will be fine with the current setup.

[strongmanmike]

There are several things I (and others) could say about the look of this image (not to mention the exposure time :whistle: - kidding)... but then I would be bowing to the trend of only picking apart the minor aspects of processing and completely forgetting about the object imaged :shrug: :doh: Suffice to say it is a great image of what I have always thought was a somewhat ugly galaxy (no offence to its parents) so well done there, the dust lane is quite clear and I love the companion galaxies in the FOV.

Nice job Paul and your new addition to the growing Clayton Observatory complex shows plenty of promise, I bet you are quite happy about that :thumbsup: :)

Mike

[Joshua Bunn]

Thanks Paul.

[RickS]

Nice to see a great result after all that effort and time, Paul!

It is actually a fairly dim galaxy. Surface brightness is 23 mag/arcsec2.

Cheers,
Rick.

[gregbradley]

Wow Paul I am really impressed. A superb image. Love the colour. I think your colour is better than the other 2 linked.

Am I seeing things or is there a giant plume of stars coming off the top spiral that extends all the way down to the right? Gee that is worth more exposure time to accentuate that. That would be new territory. The other linked images don't show that tidal stream and yours does.

Now you got me thinking about a GSO 12 RC for my dark site!

Your hard work and patience is paying off.

Greg.

[Shiraz]

excellent result Paul. top resolution and attractive colour as well. Regards Ray

[Peter.M]

The stream Greg mentions is more obvious in the luminance. I have already told you what I think of the image Paul, but yes its a corker.

[SkyViking]

A very solid image indeed Paul, I like the aqua colour of the arms and the detail in the galaxy is just great :) It's amazing how varied the background galaxies are too, they are at least as interesting as the main subject.
You must be happy with that new scope!
The bottom right corner seems quite a bit brighter than the rest of the image, is it to do with flat fielding or is that the possible cirrus you referred to?

[clive milne]

That's a really fine image Paul,
and it is good to see that the mechanical issues with the OTA are pretty much resolved.

well done.

[Forgey]

That's beautiful Paul. Nice work.

[marco]

Lovely image Paul, really well done and processed. Pity for the little star trails on the corner but the area where the galaxy sits looks fine. I disagree with Mike, this is a very intriguing galaxy on the opposite IMO :P

Regards
Marco

[RB]

Wonderful shot.
This reminds me of cracker night, when we'd nail the spiral fireworks to the fence posts and light them.
Well done.

[prokyon]

Wow, great work. You can see the long exposure time. Like pearls and a wonderful diamond on black velvet.

[Hagar]

Very nice image Paul.
Seems the difference between your images and some others here appears to be in the calibration process. Nice smooth background and not a mottled noisy mess. It also shows that no matter the telescope or camera there is no alternative to exposure time and overall depth of field.

Really enjoying your images. Quality,quality,quality.

[AG Hybrid]

Fantastic as usual.

[marc4darkskies]

Lovely image Paul! Shame about the slight elongation at the corners but a minor point in the scheme of things and doesn't detract from the scene. Nice saturation and composition too. Interested to know what the glow is in the bottom right corner?

Cheers, Marcus

[Peter Ward]

I've been down the track for a bit, sorry, missed this one.

An elegant image Paul. It has nice " balance " to my eye....( hint: excellent CWAS contender )

Nice one :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Paul Haese]

Thanks everyone for the comments, I do really like to hear peoples opinions and appreciate people taking the time to get involved. Thanks People for the support.




Yeah the elongation as pointed out is a pain in the butt, but that is most likely a shimming issue and some flex still present in the system. As I said earlier I have something in the mill that I am getting made up to resolve the problem and GSO are looking into the design of this part of the scopes to accommodate larger payloads. These cheaper scopes require a bit of tinkering to get them operational. To me that is ok so long as the optics are good.

I really don't know what that glow is. It is present in all the data to some degree. There was also some on the left hand side too (I cropped this out) but that looked more like some form of nebulosity. I can't imagine it is any light pollution because I am almost pointed south most of the time. It is a mystery and perhaps Robert might come up with something here. It is whispy through other parts of the image too. So it could be calibration, or just legit dust??? It might be a reflection off the interior of the dome too with some LED light, though other test images in other parts of the sky did not show this at all.




Will certainly get more data on this Pete and had hoped to put it up this year. With any luck I can pull another 20-30 hours next new moon to finish it off and maybe make it a good entry. In any event I just want to make it a great image. Then onto the next object.

[strongmanmike]

The bulk of it looks liek galactic cirrus to me, the bottom right corner may eb something else but the rest looks liek dust.

Mike

[Stevec35]

A very tidy meat hook indeed Paul! I love the detail in the dust lane.

Cheers

Steve

[DJT]

Beautiful image, Paul. Looking at this on an iPad and it just sparkles. Congrats on getting the scope up and running. :thumbsup:

[Octane]

On a bit of a roll here, Paul.

I really like the star-studded field full of galaxies and bright stars. It just seems to work; and, then, the strange-shaped monster in the middle just sets it off.

Would the 10" version of these scopes (with a Feathertouch focuser dangling an STL-11000M on the back) be an issue for a G-11?

H

[apaulo]

Hey Paul
A real eye full, so much to see and a great result from hard work.
Really enjoyed this image
Paul

[desler]

Unsure about any criticisms, an absolute cracker Paul. I,m really pleased for you after all the trials and issues along the journey!

Eagerly anticipating what you've got planned for the future. And yes, I'm feeling just ever so jealous!

Darren

[allan gould]

H
Im using a 10" GSO RC on a G11 with no problems.
Allan

[atalas]

<snip>
And who the hell are you guys? where the hell are the moderators?and why is this personal attack been allowed to continue?

[iceman]

I have no idea how a few people in this thread completely misinterpreted Mike's post and then proceeded to personally attack him.

It's not on. I've deleted those posts.

Louie - did you report the post? Unfortunately not, and neither did anyone else until one member brought it to my attention.

The moderators don't read every single thread and every single post. If something is amiss and you want a moderator to look at it, then click the red X and report the post!

[pw]

That's pretty awesome, both in terms of effort and in results.

[Octane]

Allan,

Awesome -- thank you!

I will likely be moving to Caloundra very soon and I'm thinking that my only option really would be narrowband imaging. Just thinking of options; while I love my FSQ, my heart really lies in narrowfield deep sky.

H

[atalas]

Sorry Mike and moderators,I know you've got a tough job to do and also get on with life.

[Astro_Bot]

Surely Caloundra isn't that bad?

[allan gould]

Paul
When I brought your image up on my laptop - which has different settings to my main frame, I found your image is absolutely full of very faint but impressive dust like "stuff" as in the lower RHS of your image. It certainly looks very real to me and it was quite surprising to see it (Galactic cirrus?).
I have grossly upped the gamma so that it appears more obvious - I hope you dont mind but it would appear to be real and not an artifact
Allan

[David Fitz-Henr]

That's a great image Paul, lots of great detail of a very interesting galaxy, not to mention other "background" galaxies - it bodes well for your new scope :thumbsup::thumbsup:



I agree with Mike. I am in the process of collecting data on this as well (only luminance collected so far); having stacked and combined the luminance it appears that there is galactic cirrus all over the place here (including the bottom right in your image).

[David Fitz-Henr]

Yep, the faint stuff in this extra-stretched image from Allan is in excellent agreement with my luminance data ... so Paul, I reckon we can both give our data a good stretching without fear of false gradients :D

[gregbradley]

Interesting Allan. So perhaps that "tidal stream" I thought was arcing off the top of the spiral to the right is really cirrus? If Paul does extra exposure time it may become quite clear as to what that is.

Greg.

[Octane]

Right near the racetrack, lol.

H

[Harel_Boren]

This is so well done, I am out of words.

I just looked and looked at the image, there's so much going on in that galaxy and around it. A true keeper.

Cheers,
Harel
:thumbsup:

[Paul Haese]

Thanks everyone for the comments on the image so far. The amount of hours collected now might seem like a lot but remote imaging makes it easy to undertake, I set and go to bed, it works while I sleep. So more data will need to be collected for me to be really happy with the overall finished product. Next new moon with any luck I will have it all collected.



As Allan the 10 should be fine and work well with a G11, though it would be worth considering looking at another mount in the future. You might want to consider a rotator or an AOL (I have one of those for sale if you like). The rotator comes in handy a lot.




Yes this is how I see it on my main processing screen which is a laptop too (shock horror I use a laptop to process :eyepop:) It has a very sharp screen which shows noise really well and is well calibrated so it is my preferred screen.

I have subsequently given the data a slight stretch more just to show some more the dust/cirrus. So if you want take a look.




That is a great confirmation David. I was beginning to wonder whether I had that right. I look forward to your results. How many hours are you planning on collecting? You have a faster scope than me so I figure 30 hours would be perfect for you. I have four hours each on the colour but want another hour each. Also I only did 20 minutes for the colour and should have done 30 for the f ratio of the scope.

[Leonardo70]

Congrats Paul ... great result.

All the best.
Leo

[Nicola]

Absolutely a great image, that Hook seems almost coming off my screen!

[Suzy]

Phoarwwww that's a cracker of an image and so many galaxies there in the background! :eyepop:

[ReaPerMan]

Firstly fantastic image!

I was on Teleskop express the other day they are offering the GSO under their brand name see http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p6512_TS-Optics-12--f8-RC-Astrograph---Truss-Carbon-Tube.html

They are addressing this issue with the following:
http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p6686_TS-Upgrade-Kit---focuser-and-mechanics-for-12--and-16--RC-telescope.html

"With the standard truss RCs, the focuser is directly connected with the main mirror cell. With normal camera payloads, this works well. But collimation is more complicated because the focuser is adjusted together with the main mirror. With heavier cameras, the systems becomes more prone to adjustments. With this upgrade, we rework the whole telescope and equip it with a new focuser.

Advantages:
-- Significantly better 3" rack & pinion focuser with a quality close to the Starlight Feathertouch
-- No coupled focuser / main mirror system. Adjusting the main mirror does now not influence the focuser's situation.
-- A field correction for the focuser is installed (tilting mechanism with push-pull screws) "

Seems you are not alone.

all the best

Paul

[madbadgalaxyman]

Gday there, Paul,
In true Mad Galaxy Man fashion, I have, over the last few years, spent several days puzzling over the morphology of this galaxy, which proves to be unusual, in that there are numerous obvious asymmetries and non-planarities;
in NGC 2442, nothing is quite where you would expect it to be in a symmetric two-armed spiral!

I have finally got around to looking at your excellent image of N2442, which, in my view, is about as deep, or possibly somewhat deeper, than any other image that I have seen of this galaxy;

The extremely low-surface-brightness extensions of the long & narrow spiral arm (as opposed to the other arm, which is a broadened stub that has the appearance of having been lifted away from the principal plane of this galaxy), are detectable in your .jpg without special pleading or without straining my eyes.

There is also unusual ultra-faint material extending from the shorter of the two spiral arms, and I have never seen it as well as it is shown in your image.

All Barred Spiral galaxies are perturbed and asymmetric, to some extent, with the presence of one strong and one weak arm being typical and normal in a barred spiral. However, the difference between the two principal spiral arms can get very large, as it is in this galaxy.

There is some modelling around which ascribes the unusual morphology of NGC 2442 to some sort of interaction with another galaxy.
To me, the small S0 galaxy, at the bottom of your frame, with its two very-smooth but fairly well-defined arms, looks like a good candidate for the perturbing galaxy, but I will have to look in the literature to see what the prevailing ideas are on this topic.

In support of this hypothesis, one might imagine that the strongly symmetric spiral arms of the little S0 could have been caused by the interaction (this is regarded as a physically plausible mechanism for forming a strong two-armed spiral pattern)
Also, some of the small dwarfs in the field don't look massive enough to have modified the structure of NGC 2442 on a large scale.

Best Regards,
Robert Lang

[madbadgalaxyman]

Here is the most recent study of NGC 2442:
http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/723/1/530/pdf/apj_723_1_530.pdf

I further note that this galaxy was photographed at high resolution with the ESO 2.2 meter telescope:
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1108b/
The shortened and broadened and "shredded" arm, that looks lifted away from the plane of this galaxy, is particularly striking in this image.

As for the various extensions or luminous materials that may or may not be in the field, as far as I can recall from my reading of the literature (I am always at least two years behind), there was no report of faint luminous material in the field.

There might be, but how to prove it? (the professionals usually hit the data with a heavy dose of statistics and mathematics to try to prove that they are really detecting something)

But it is very plausible that encounters between galaxies can remove stars from the galaxies themselves, and there are plenty of places in the universe where numerous intergalactic stars have been proven to exist
(notably, the faint intracluster/inter-galaxy light in the M84/M86 field)

The intracluster light is likely to be particularly elusive in groups of galaxies, and it is easier to detect in clusters of galaxies where repeated encounters between galaxies have removed large numbers of stars from the member galaxies.

[MLParkinson]

This image has an inspirational quality. I for one am inspired. Who needs the Hubble space telescope when one can by affordable Chinese RC scopes and produce spectacular results like this image?

I don’t think the imperfect corners and grain are worth obsessing over. I think that there is a danger that we become overly obsessed with the technical aspects of imaging and lose sight of what makes a great image. Great images can be technically imperfect or perfect. Terrestrial photographers often utilize grain and optical defects to help create great images. My hunch is that some people make the mistake of thinking that if they just get their technique right, they will produce great images. May be they will, may be they won’t. May be their images will be plain boring.

[Varangian]

That's a beautiful composition - well done.

[el_draco]

The original is a terrific image but I'd like to see a high res version with the background brought out like this. Any chance?

Rom

[Paul Haese]

Thanks for the responses.


Robert, thank you for the detailed analysis, it was quite interesting reading and wondered which other galaxy was causing this deformation.



Hi Rom, I am working on collecting more data so that I can show the background as you request. Once I am satisfied I have the noise under control I will post a revised image. :)

[astronobob]

Paul, That is a beautiful result, and I think it real cool of you to say thats there is more to learn, Meekness is a virtue in this hobby and your wisdom in it is commendable.
Your time and effort, not only with this image, but also your shairing of you knowledge is admirable, and lastly, the work you have done with your Obs and gear must be a real Buzz for you now with images like this !
Not pulling the wool over your eyes, Ive known you for a while now, and thought to put some due truth and deserved recongnition out there, , ,
Nice going Paul.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Bob, that is really a nice thing to say.