ngc5101 and 5078

[Shiraz]

This is a remarkable group of galaxies, with the central barred region of NGC5101 looking almost like it was overlaid onto a quite different outer disk - and the interacting dusty NGC5078 and IC879. There is also an amazing variety of background fuzzies - a significant proportion of the background objects are non-stellar.

scaled version at http://www.astrobin.com/full/94516/0/

warts and all at native scale http://www.astrobin.com/full/94516/0/?real=&mod=

This is about as dim as I can get to from this site - really need darker sky :P. The outer disk of NGC5101 is only about 24mag/arcsec2, which is really pushing it when the sky is somewhere round mag20.

thanks for looking. regards Ray

Skywatcher 250f4 with RCC1
SX H694
NEQ6
data from 3 nights, lum 1x1 with 200 and 300sec subs, colour 2x2 with 200sec subs. lum FWHM was about 2.3 arcsec with median stacking

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Gob smacked Ray!!:eyepop::thumbsup:

So that's how the big boys do it.

Another I tried myself sometime ago.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment_browse.php?a=137424

Not even in the same ball park as yours.

Cheers,

Justin.

[marc4darkskies]

Lovely Ray! :thumbsup: Nice composition, great colour & good detail. Pretty darned good in fact for only 200 & 300 sec Lum subs! It certainly is a spectacular group!

I have to say though that the watermark smack bang in the middle spoils it for me a bit.

Also, what causes the dark "X" shaped artifact on stars?

Cheers, Marcus

[RickS]

That's a great FOV, Ray, and you've done a lovely job on it. With short subs and a low noise camera too :)

[Stevec35]

That's extremely nice Ray! I would be well pleased with it.

Cheers

Steve

[Rod771]

Congratulations Ray! Put that one on the top shelf :thumbsup:

Very Nice!

Rod

PS: Ray, to change the watermark you could quickly delete your image off Astrobin then re load up again, just dont click the copyright option when you first upload.

[Shiraz]

Thanks Justin. jolly dim region eh?


Thanks Marcus. Short subs are all that are needed with the low read noise and high QE of the camera - I have used longer subs, but get no extra SNR - just lose dynamic range. The crosses are a diffraction effect from the focuser draw tube intruding into the light column. I will have to shorten the OTA, but have been putting off cutting that beautiful CF until I am certain that the scope is a keeper - probably should do it soon. The watermark appeared when I used the uploader defaults on first use of the site - haven't yet worked out how to remove it, but agree that it is a pain.


thanks Rick. It needs more time - I will probably have to choose brighter targets in future :)



Thanks very much Steve. I am pleased with it, but it could do with somewhat fewer artefacts at full scale....

[Shiraz]

Thanks very much Rod. There seems to already be a trail of comments etc following the original posting that may preclude removal of the image - probably will just leave it as is and put it down to (lack of) experience. I tried uploading a revised version, but the uploader did not give any watermark options and put the same watermark in the new image.

[Asterix2020]

Ray, that is an awesome image. Love all the background galaxies as well.

[clive milne]

Bravo!...

[graham.hobart]

Really superb Ray, just gorgeous to look at and marvel at.
Graham

[PRejto]

That is a beauty Ray! Makes me want to try the same field but from North Curl Curl I highly doubt it would be very satisfactory.

Hope you can figure out the water mark thing. If you are paying for that site I'd be fairly unhappy!

Peter

[strongmanmike]

Raaaather good shot that old boy....

I look forward to viewing it back home in a few days, the room here in Thailand is a bit bright but never the less I can tell it's a corker shot :thumbsup:

Viva la fast Newt, SX camera and short subs ;) = great combo :thumbsup:

Mike

[Paul Haese]

Nice detail Ray and good colour. Background looks like it has a bit of speckle in it. Not visible on my iPad but definitely seen on the high def screen.

The water mark as Marcus points out if off putting too.

Overall a really nice image. Can you tell me if this is a full res image? I am wondering what this camera's native size images look like.

[Shiraz]

thanks Paul - yep, the background galaxies are fascinating


Hi Clive. Thanks very much


Thanks a lot Graham - appreciate the comment


Thanks - definitely needs a dark sky Peter. The site is free and looks pretty good - but it looks like the watermark becomes part of the image. My own fault, I didn't read the instructions carefully enough.


Thanks Mike. Yes, a fast scope with small quiet pixels can work quite well - the main limit is the sky brightness, but one has to live with that or move.



Thanks Paul. Speckle does show up on my laptop if the screen is at the wrong angle - decided to set the background up a bit to bring out the last little bit of the dim background stuff - at the expense of some extra noise. The original on the site is full res, with about 5mpix of the full 6mpix frame (cropped for composition). So this is pretty close to a full native scale image - full frame is about 0.8 x 0.5 degrees.

regards Ray

Edit: just realised that the background galaxy cluster is Abell 728S

[Bassnut]

High contrast and detail, absolutely pops !!!!

[Bassnut]

yes, geez, that watermark, fix that.

[gregbradley]

Super image Ray and great framing. 2 very intersting main galaxies there nicely presented.

Greg.

[Asterix2020]

You should be able to remove the watermark.
Just upload the same file again as a revision and make sure "apply watermark" is not ticked.

[Shiraz]

Thanks Fred. will repost to Astrobin sans watermark


thanks Greg - they are interesting galaxies.



Tried uploading as a revision Paul, but the watermark dialogue did not appear. Will just have to upload as a totally new image I think.

regards Ray

[Asterix2020]

Ok, I didn't try that. Just did then and you're right. Kind of silly.

[atalas]

Wonderful field!

[marco]

Fantastic image Ray, colors, details, all perfect ! You have outdone yourself :thumbsup:

Clear skies
Marco

[SkyViking]

That's really good and some very cool galaxies as well, both the foreground ones and all the background fuzzies. Great choice of target and great work :)

[alistairsam]

Wow, that's stunning Ray.

[Shiraz]

Thanks Louie.


thanks Marco - appreciate the comment


thanks Rolf - yes, I think that the background Abell group is in some ways more interesting than the foreground.


Thanks Alistair.

regards Ray

[astronobob]

Totally grouse piece of work , , ,

[strongmanmike]

Well I'm home Ray :D...aaaand I have had another look at this on my good screen and in nice softly lit evening surrounds at home....

I have to say that any perceived processing flaws or equipment induced artifacts are completely inconsequential and do not prevent this image being as close to a perfect galaxy image that one could hope for with equipment such as yours. It shows lovely balanced colours and has details and an overall quality and fidelity rarely seen, even in images captured by much larger, more traditional long focal length and more expensive systems, using ridiculously longer exposures than yours.

Certainly an image to be very proud of - congratulations :thumbsup:

Mike

[Shiraz]

thanks Bob


that's a very generous comment Mike and really appreciated - thanks very much for the encouragement. Still many things to work on, but this hobby is great fun eh?

regards Ray

[Nicola]

I'm astonished...simply beautiful!

[Andre27]

Absolutely stunning , well done.

[barx1963]

That is quite arguably one of the most astounding images I have seen.
Ray, congratulations!
Looking at the native scale image as I scroll it around I just keep seeing more galaxies. And the two main ones are simply beautiful. And to think this is achieved with and EQ6 and a 10" newt, just fantastic and a credits to your skill.

Cheers

Malcolm

[alpal]

Top image - I hope you produce many more.

[Shiraz]

thanks Nicola


thank you Andre


Thanks Malcolm. I also find it fascinating to wander round the field - there are just so many galaxies out there. Re equipment, I think that the main factor is the seeing - doesn't matter what gear you have, the sky has the last word.


Thanks Allan - I hope to, but I am getting a bit older every day and the scope seems to be getting heavier :P.

Regards ray

[madbadgalaxyman]

G'day Ray,

I just sent a link to your image to Prof. Ron Buta (University of Alabama), as I feel that the faint outer spiral structure of NGC 5101 is particularly well shown in your image.

Buta essentially "wrote the book" on ring and bar structures in disk galaxies, extending the original Sandage-Hubble and de Vaucouleurs-Sandage-Hubble galaxy classification systems so that they include notations that express more detail about the bar and ring structures that are found within spiral and S0 galaxies.

In the case of NGC 5101, there are at least two ring structures, that which immediately surrounds the bar, and the ring (or broken ring) structure that is formed by the overlap of the outermost spiral arm (or arms).

For comparison purposes I attach a deep UKS image that was made by David Malin:

162590

The following NIR image (J+H+K bands) from the 2MASS survey hints that this galaxy might contain a third ring, a small tight ring immediately surrounding the centre:

162592

Cheers,
Robert

Notes added in edit:
I further note that IIS member Martin Pugh has also recently imaged this field.

As another comparison, here is the B-band ("blue") image from the online version of the De Vaucouleurs Atlas of Galaxies:

162599

The blue knots in the faint outer arms are emphasized, on account of the bandpass of this image.
The outer arm structure is reminiscent of a weak density wave, perhaps caused by the inner bright oval section of this galaxy (the bar plus the bar-encircling ring) acting, itself, as a bar.
(for info on this sort of thing, one can 'google' on the phrase "resonance rings" in the context of galaxy morphology)

[alpal]

Ray,


Hi Ray,.
I know how you feel - it's not easy to set up all that equipment.
It's hard when you work full time.
I can only take pics on Friday or Saturday night &
then of course when it's clear & no Moon.

I am thinking this hobby is more for a retired person with an observatory
that only has to be set up once.

cheers
Allan

[nandopg]

Ray,
In a word: outstanding image !!
I can see all the right concepts applied in your images, from the lenght and quantity of the subs up to the post-processing.
Thank you very much for sharing this beauty,
Fernando

[Shiraz]

Hi Robert. thanks for the comprehensive information and for passing the image on


I meet the "retired" bit, but still set up every night - I need to bite the bullet and look at a more permanent setup, but light pollution is getting steadily worse at this location.


Thanks Fernando - I am glad that you like the image - I was very pleased with how it turned out, all considered.

Regards ray

[multiweb]

Awesome.:thumbsup:

[Shiraz]

thanks Marc. regards Ray