The Eye of Sauron

[Peter Ward]

Tolkien or Mexican? Humm....:question:

Old dog, new tricks.:D

The link is here (http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/gallery312.html)

[clive milne]

Nice one Peter.

btw) I thought your RCOS was a 12.5" ? (as opposed to a 14.25")

[Ken]

Best 104 I have seen, great looking through the galaxy to the dusty lanes on the far side.
Clear skies Ken.

[Peter Ward]

Ta Clive.... I did own a 12" Carbon tube for a time, but I've had the 14.25 Truss for a while now.

(I might add it's been sitting in the spare room for over 18 months, with new enhanced silver coatings....that have yet to see first light... :shrug:)

[Peter Ward]

Thanks very much Ken :thumbsup:

[RickS]

That's a fantastic M104, Peter! One of the better ones I've ever seen.

[Larryp]

Lovely image, Peter!

[Peter Ward]

Thanks Laurie...your comments as always are appreciated.



Ta Rick.... yep, I know about the German guys in South America with a 32" uber-scope, in uber-darkness, with uber-seeing... but, hey, this was taken from The Shire ! (sorry about the pun :D )

[h0ughy]

you got hairy feet ?

nice result, well worth a pedicure;)

[alpal]

Hi Peter,
I can't find a better amateur image.
Wow - that's amazing.

cheers
Allan

[Peter Ward]

:lol: Well... thankfully only on the top.....

[Peter Ward]

Ta...but I really wasn't kidding about the Germans...

[alpal]

Well this one is the advanced Chilean robotic 32" telescope:
http://www.chart32.de/index.php/galaxies-m

M104 is here & yours looks sharper.

http://www.chart32.de/images/phocagallery/galleries/galaxies/thumbs/phoca_thumb_l_m104.jpg

[Peter Ward]

Ah! I see you found the Germans :)

Seriously.....It's like comparing amateur stuff to the Hubble...(most non-German) amateurs are using crayons

Once you start looking at 1:1 scale versions, their data is sublime...though I do very much appreciate your kind comments....I am still only imaging from The Shire.

[alpal]

Well yes Peter,
when you start to look at their keyhole nebula you
feel like selling your telescope - at least I do - LOL -:)

see here:

http://www.chart32.de/images/phocagallery/galleries/nebulae/thumbs/phoca_thumb_l_etacar_sho_c200.jpg


No one can beat the Advanced Chilean robotic 32" telescope.

[DavidU]

Crisp as Pete ! Wonderful.

[gvanhau]

Plenty of details in there.
Wonderfull image.

Geert

[Peter Ward]

Glad you like it



Thanks. I've always been of the opinion you need focal length for faint-fuzzies. Might be time to to move away from...as Fred likes to say :)...WWF... and re-mount the RC!

[Rod771]

Very very nice Peter, well done! :thumbsup:





That's unbelievable!

[graham.hobart]

That is an amazing view Peter. Very impressive.
Graham

[marc4darkskies]

Nup, don't like it - gave me a sore neck! :) Say, is there an obscurely named PI function to rotate a field 90 degrees? :P



Idle threats! Glad to see the WWF fad fading though! ;)

[RickS]

Menu Image>Geometry>Rotate... will do it. If you want an obscure method then there are a few choices. PixelMath would be an entertaining one :lol:

[Peter Ward]

Thanks Graham.



Ha! I laugh at your taunt! :lol:

In PI...like in the Lego Movie... everything is awesome!

Process>Geometry>Fast rotation turns ordinary Mexican hats in Tolkien masterpieces, with just one click ;)

[Octane]

My goodness, that is absolutely unbelieveable. :O :O :O

Fabulous work, there, sir.

H

[rustigsmed]

awesome work Peter!!

[gregbradley]

A very nice Sombrero. Detail rarely seen.

Greg.

[clive milne]

Incidentally Peter, in your image it appears that M104 has a 'peanut' shaped halo surrounding the core. (Similar to NGC 5746).
It is quite a remarkable example of the processing technique required to reveal subtle, non-symetrical structure buried in an image with high dynamic range.

[Peter Ward]

While I try to "keep it real" when pushing the data, I'm always wary as to whether I'm introducing artifacts.

So the "peanut" is real? Seriously? I've never thought to check.


Appreciated Greg



Ta. Lego rules :)



Thank you , but nah.....just plain Yoghurt
(...Spaceballs fans probably would appreciate this :) )

[clive milne]

The light diffracted from the nucleus of the galaxy (by the spider vanes) will be roughly aligned with the peanut lobes. There is one sure way to confirm or deny whether it is a diffraction artefact or not... rotate the ota by 45 degrees and give it another go. Or just use the RH and see if it still there.

[madbadgalaxyman]

There is a serious scientific question in your image about the size (big?)(small?) of the bulge component of M104!

Galaxy Photometrists are still arguing about the nature and the size and the number of the spheroidal morphological component/components of this galaxy:
- how big is the bulge?
- how big is the halo?
- Or are the bulge and the halo, taken together as a unit, a single morphological component?

Cheers,
Robert

Astronomers have had similar problems with the bulge vs. the halo of our nearby neighbour M31 .

The resolution of these conundrums is usually found by separating out the various components of a galaxy....... by means of their constituent stellar orbits, stellar ages, and stellar heavy-element enrichments.
_____________________

Also muddying the waters in this regard is the fact that some galaxies also have very thick (broad) disk components.
______________________

[Peter Ward]

Thanks for your insight gentlemen. :thumbsup:

I have used the RH on M104...but found the focal length was simply too short to provide any decent image scale...hence didn't persist with it.

Might be worth re-mounting the RCOS to see what gives :question:

[LewisM]

The detail is amazing - I studied the image for quite some time identifying as many background GX's as I could.

[SkyViking]

Fabulous image for sure, has to be one of the best M104's out there. Awesome work Peter!:thumbsup:
Did you use PI drizzle integration?

[cometcatcher]

That's some impressive detail in the dust lane. And with 2008 data. Blimey. I didn't even have a DSLR in 2008.

[alpal]

As I said

No one can beat the Advanced Chilean Robotic 32" Telescope.

But - Peter has come close with this latest pic although
the one on their website is not at full resolution.

here:
http://www.chart32.de/images/phocagallery/galleries/galaxies/thumbs/phoca_thumb_l_m104.jpg

[Peter Ward]

Well..I can say the Germans probably didn't have to contend with the light dome of 4 million Sydney-sider houses... or there abouts :)

I think the photographic term is: red brick-veneer-ial disease.



The STL11002 + AOL I was using at the time remains a very capable system. With good seeing the AO was producing raw data that was tight as...err...some to do with fish.. comes next :)



Thanks again Rolf..but, sorry, no drizzles were integrated or harmed during the making of this picture.



Many may have shifted.... perhaps into the red....

[atalas]

Fine work Peter.