The "true" giant in Sculptor

[strongmanmike]

This is my first "real" image taken from the new observatory at Terroux

At 17.5hrs total exposure, taken over 4 nights, it is also my longest exposure so far of any object taken with the AG12 and the first to pass the 1000min mark :)
Unfortunately some of the Luminance data was collected while a crescent to first 1/4 Moon was still up and the seeing varied considerably over the 4 nights but in the end I decided to use every single sub to make the image.

A rarely imaged galaxy, NGC 289 is listed in LEDA as quite small at 5.6' X 4.2' with the brightest inner reverse 'S' shaped area only about 3' in diameter. However, in a deep exposure with the 12" at F3.8 it is clearly revealed to be much bigger with the faintest decernable very low surface brightness outer spiral arms (~27mag/sq arc sec (http://kudzu.astr.ua.edu/devatlas/NGC__289______B___________.html)) spanning a whopping 14 arc min! So, at the published distance of some 75 Million light years this equates to an actual dimension for the galaxy of some 300 000 light years across...and that's huge :eyepop:

Click on the links below

Hope you enjoy the view :thumbsup:

NGC 289 (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/157675865/original)

300 000 light years across (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/157677099/original)

Full Frame Image (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/157675863/original)

Close in crop of core (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/157728488/original)

Also attached two nightscapes taken on the first (moonless) night as the Milky Way was waving good bye and then later Orion was charging overhead :P

The observatory and equipment (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/157369702/original) all performed flawlessly for all 4 nights so I'm very happy about that.

Mike

[Stevec35]

Nice Mike! I usually pride myself on knowledge of objects but I have to admit I haven't heard of this one. Maybe age is catching up.

Cheers

Steve

[michaellxv]

That is fabulous Mike, I was only looking at this one the other night.

What is that on the outer arm at about 9 o'clock? It almost looks like another background galaxy but there is nothing marked on my charts.

Edit: Found it. PGC 708504

[alpal]

Well done Mike,
You've picked up those very faint arms &
there are also many fuzzies in the background.
After a Google search I could only find one pic that had more detail in the core
& was also in colour here:
http://www.capella-observatory.com/ImageHTMLs/Galaxies/NGC289.htm

It's good you went for a hard target - it makes you a pioneer.

cheers
Allan

[strongmanmike]

I saw an image of it earlier in the year and thought those faint outer arms will be a good feature to tackle with the AG12, so I'll get that when it comes around :thumbsup:



Glad you liked it Mike, yes a little galaxy it is :)



He he, yeah that's a 5m FL 16" in Namibia (edit 24") ;) there's another sharp version taken with a 16" RC scope at Cerre Tololo (seeing is king!) but Hey, I was happy enough with the end result considering the very variable (and windy) conditions over the four nights (man does a dome help in the wind, struth :eyepop:)

[gvanhau]

Wonderful image!

There seems to be a lot of distortion in the outer spiral arms...


Geert

[cometcatcher]

Awesome image. There's even some galaxies behind the spiral arms. Keep em coming. :)

[beren]

Great Mike a new image at last and a tough target no less. Congrats on the new obs and fine image :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Geert, yes, the arms almost look like a childs crayon scribble on a wall :)



Cheers Kevin, yes galaxies are everywhere...like cockroaches :P



Thanks Beren, I am loving the new observatory, every trip is a little adventure :thumbsup:

Mike

[Andy01]

I'm speechless, no words can do your image justice! Well maybe one word... supercalifragilisticexpialidocious :)

Cheers
Andy

[atalas]

Awesome Mike....spiral arm definition excellent...top work under crap conditions.

[RickS]

You picked a great target for a long one, Mike, and did a fantastic job. Love it! Are you a convert or just dabbling with megadata :lol:

Cheers,
Rick.

[gregbradley]

Awesome image Mike and it must have been great out imaging again in the new observatory. Great detail for a faint fuzzy. I've never seen this one before either.

That Namibia scope is 24 inch (60cm).

Greg.

[marc4darkskies]

Gorgeous image of a tough target Mike!! :thumbsup::thumbsup: Not often imaged either.

Also Like the Terroux nebula image :lol:

Cheers, Marcus

[strongmanmike]

Hey thanks Andy, really glad to hear you like it :thumbsup:



Thanks Louie, the conditions weren't all crap, in fact really only one of the 4 nights was truly crap so I collected some of the colour data then, on the first night after I did the meridian flip the seeing settled nicely and I got 90min of Lum that saw some really sharp subs, so I layered that back in to bring out the inner detail inside that 3' core area ;) I had to use all the Lum data though to get the outer faint arms to show well..not ideal and as they were too faint to sharpen would really need much longer periods of good seeing to get that :doh: all good though
Cheers mate:thumbsup:



Ahhhh yes... 17 hours with 12" at F3.8 is pretty useful but alas I think the highly lauded "mega" data level juuust keeps growing :rolleyes: THANKS TO YOU :mad2: :lol:



Oh mate it is heaven out there and once the new visual scope is on site mate I will be in astronomers heaven :innocent:

Yes, I see that Hypergraph is indeed a 24" there are two famous hypergarphs in Namibia the other one is a 16" :)



He he Oh well Hallelujah :prey2: actually expected you to hate it due to the strong colours I opted for in the central area...you are soooo fussy :rolleyes: :lol: :thumbsup:

Yes, good to have a bit of fun when ya on ya own :D

MIke

[multiweb]

Very nice spiral. Looks like a plate of spaghetti. Must be good to chill out under the stars and push buttons after all the moving around.:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

I agree...Squid ink pasta even, complete with tomato HII regions Mmmmmmm

Oooh yeah and having the best of both world (Restaurants at our door AND an Observatory) is pretty cool.

:thumbsup:

[Shiraz]

gosh that is an excellent image Mike :thumbsup:.

That is one huge galaxy - not seen it before, so thanks.

[DJT]

What a great way to christen the observatory. It's a really cool galaxy. :thumbsup:

[Rod771]

What a great looking galaxy, nice work Mike!

I really like the Orion nightscape too, seeing a vista like that is enough to make us folk from the burbs a little envious. :) Just lovely! :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Ray, my pleasure, I am sure some others will image it now ;)



Well Dave, I did do a first light image (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/157369662/original) a couple of weeks ago but it was just a test to make sure everything was working. This time I wanted to do something new and deep for the "real" first light to demonstrate why I spent so much money, effort and time putting this installation together :rolleyes: :lol:



Cheers Rod, just being out under the stars is a great feeling, something going fully remote deprives you of, may as well just order and buy your fish from the fish shop :)...err?..wouldn't mind my own fish shop too of course ;)

[Octane]

That's sensational Mike. What a great way to start Terroux off with. :)

H

[strongmanmike]

Cheers H, yes even though not all had perfect conditions, t'were a lovely 4 nights.

Mike

[Geoff45]

Very interesting galaxy Mike and well-imaged. It's now on my to-do list.
Geoff

[strongmanmike]

He he thought a few might have a shot at it now, I'm expecting Richard to hit it with some long DSLR exposure too :lol:

Mike

[Placidus]

Hi, Mike,

Superb, beautiful image, with excellent balance between the detail in the bright core and the faint and delicate outer spiral arms. Lovely work.

Best,
Mike

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Mike :)

Even though it is a huge galaxy, at 75 Million light years the central bright core is only 2' in size (say compared to the 11 Million ltyrs and 26' size of nearby NGC 253) so getting detail in that area is a challenge and is completely at the mercy of the seeing...in the end we have to make the most of what we have :thumbsup:

Mike

[marco]

:2thumbs::2thumbs::2thumbs: Outstanding Mike, if someone would have told me it was done with a 20" class telescope I would have believed him!

Congratulation for your fully operative new observatory, a hard job to complete it but you start collecting the fruits :)

Ciao
Marco

PS: do you see what mega data can produce also for you ?:P:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Marco :thumbsup:

Yes the new observatory is great. Today I'm taking out the brand new 12" F5 GOTO Dob and making a flat spot for it to sit on, this will be my visual instrument to bide my time with while the imaging scope chugs away :D

Yes well not sure I truly have the patience for regular 20+ hr images :question: (I get bored :lol:)....buuut ya never know, besides 20hrs means completely different things for different size and speed scopes and cameras anyway. While more exposure is generally always a good goal, simply plucking arbitrary total exposure figures out of the air as some sort of imaginary mark of seriousness just makes me laugh...in the end we could write what ever details we wanted in our image credits, no one would be the wiser :lol:

Mike

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Really stunning NGC 289 Mike!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

So much detail in those whispy arms.
I've been looking up info on NGC 289, ESO/Uppsala has it at 11.0 x 9.0 arc minutes.
Certainly a big beasty!

Cheers,

Justin.

[alpal]

Hi Mike,
it's hard to compete with long focal length & large mirrors but
you've done remarkably well.

I wish our German friends in Chile would dial in this one - with the 32".;)
It's too big to ignore.
http://www.chart32.de/index.php/galaxies-m


cheers
Allan

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Justin, something different at least huh? :thumbsup:



Well, when I disrespect the light...there ain't much in it Al except I got the HII regions...and I used no decon on this one either, so I don't have details simply turned into uniform pin points ;)

24" 4800m FL in Namibia vs 12" 1120m FL at Wallaroo :P ..that bright core is only about 2' across too remember.

Mike

[alpal]

Mike,

Hi Mike,
Now that's looking better than the one from Namibia.
What's going on? :)

cheers
Allan

[Ross G]

An amazing galaxy photo Mike.

A new one to me.

So sharp and detailed.

Great colours.

Impressive comparison with the Namibia photo.

I like your nightscape photos. Your location looks great..horizon to horizon views!

Good luck.

Ross.

[strongmanmike]

Mate, in the end seeing is everything, I note the boys in Nambia say there it was not good seeing (2.2") which is probably about what my average was for the project too, hence the similarity...put that 24" on a mountain in Chile and maaaate :eyepop:...of course my lill'ol AG12 would perform better then too I guess :)



On ya Rossco, thanks for the positive words mate :thumbsup:

Yes the location of the new observatory is pretty ok :)

Mike