Centaurus A

[Paul Haese]

Bit of a lazy effort here by me, and I will collect more data but I have been chomping at the bit to produce a RGB colour image with this system for months. Guiding was reasonable, seeing was about average for my site and transparency was ok too.

Taken over only three nights with 11 hours of integration (a mini data session for me :P), though I am going to collect more data to bring out the faint blue star ring which is located about 10-7 oclock and about three fingers from the main galaxy in an arc. I also want to collect more data on the vertical column of stars that Rolf captured when he did his mega effort. And; of course the shells need more data yet too. Not to mention the noise in the back ground of the image.

Overall though I really the detail this scope can deliver. There are still some niggling issues that need fine tuning with the system and I am waiting on an adapter for the flattener so it will be at the correct distance.

Click here (http://paulhaese.net/NGC5128.html) for the larger resolution image.

[DaveNZ]

Wonderful detail in the dark lane. Almost looks like it was taken by a large pro scope in South America.

[rustigsmed]

yep - loving that dust lane detail - the halo looking good too.


cheers

[Tony_]

Great image Paul.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys, I appreciate your comments.



Thanks Dave. I wouldn't go that far, but I am happy with the detail level.

[Stevec35]

That's a nice Centaurus A Paul - plenty of detail. If it was me though I would tone down the brightness of the centre slightly.

Cheers

Steve

[Paul Haese]

Done and I agree. Just took a look about 5 minutes ago and thought the same thing. :)

[alpal]

Hi Paul,
that is beautifully processed - great stars & detail.
It looks very professional.

cheers
Allan

[RickS]

Very impressive result for 11 hours, Paul. Look forward to the final version!

[gregbradley]

That's looking terrific. Very luminous and some great colour in the core with very sharp detail.

Greg.

[DJT]

Great image. The detail there is quite something and I like the colours here, the blue at 7, as you say is great.

[glend]

Looks very nice Paul. It just so happens that I am imaging Centarus A right now - you've given me a high bar to get to with that beautiful image. Your the RC master for sure.

[multiweb]

Great shot. Central dust is amazing. Lots of faint fuzzies in the field too. :thumbsup:

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Allan. Not sure about professional but I tried to find a balance between fine detail and contrast level. The image could take quite a few iterations of sharpening before I got to this point.



Thanks Rick. I was surprised at the smoothness of the data after such a short integration time but then again it is very bright as far as galaxies go. With any luck I will get a night or two very soon.



Thanks Greg. The luminance layer I did a fairly step stretch in CCDstack, and that resulted in a very high luminosity. Some selective medium curves and that gave it some pop.



Thanks David, I new about the line of gas and dust pointing away from the galaxy, but in researching the object I came across the arc of blue stars which can be imaged. So I am keen to see if I can get it brighter than just a smear at present.



Thanks Glen for the high praise but I am definitely not the RC master. I do acknowledge that I have learnt a lot about RC scopes and how to get them working well since buying one. Collimation is the key with these scopes and owning a tak scope for collimation is mandatory.



Thanks Mark, the central bar is not bad for the size of this scope. I think it compares fairly well with images from larger scopes.

[graham.hobart]

Very nice Paul, impressive result!
cheers
Graham

[Flugel88]

Paul its great to see your Truss RC really does spit out some terrific images.
The detail and resolution is superb and makes my efforts look like child's play.

Cant wait to see your next version with the added Data ;)

[NOMH]

Hi Paul, that looks awesome. I really want to see the final product because what you have so far is stunning. The field, color, detail, and contrast are excellent in this image.

JB

[SkyViking]

Very pretty indeed Paul, the dust lane has an impressive natural and detailed look to it! You also seem to have captured some of the inner jet, 1/2 way down from the centre in the 6 o'clock position, nice work :)
The top left corner looks very dark/slightly clipped, but perhaps that's just my monitor?
As for the halo I would probably say it is reddish rather than white, as expected for an elliptical galaxy. It did appear very red in my original data - but almost everyone processes it as white :shrug:. I'd be curious to know how it appeared in your raw data?

[Ross G]

Great looking Centaurus A Paul.

Such depth and detail.

I love the colours.

Ross.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks John, Michael and Graham for your comments.



Thanks Rolf, I saw the jet but think it will be more prominent with more time collecting data. Well at least that is the theory. Based on your image and I hope that I don't have to collect that much data to have the same impact.

The top left corner is clipped for sure and is hiding some noise at present. I hope with more time it will reduce the noise level.

In my base combined image the halo is like a milk white colour, so maybe I don't have enough colour data to really bring out the halo colour just yet.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Ross, colours took some time to develop. I have found over time there is a careful balance between over saturated and just right.

[Rod771]

Very nice Paul! Love the detail in the dust lanes! :thumbsup:

[kinetic]

Ball tearer Paul,
The up close and personal is amazing too, such detail in the dust lanes!
The close up almost warrants a framing all of its own:thumbsup:

Steve

[Rigel003]

Great image, Paul. Love the detail and colours in the core, especially the blue fringes.

[sjastro]

Excellent image Paul.

Steven

[Paul K]

Love the detail in the dust lane..awesome shot !

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Rod, Steve and Paul for your comments.




Thanks Steve, I will have a look at the image and see if an up close framing is going to work.



Thanks Graeme, those blue stars are pretty cool and the detail in the lanes is quite interesting too. Not bad for a cheapy scope. ;)

[Bassnut]

Excellent Paul, good to see you back in action, bodes well.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Fred, it is a relief to have the camera working and the system operating. Just some final tweaks and then onward and upward

[Geoff45]

Good overall rendition of this object Paul. I particularly like the blue tinges, which seem to be something that older images don't show. I first noticed them on the last 5128 shot I took. Maybe it's all down to longer exposures and better (braver?) processing.
Geoff

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Geoff. I have always wanted to capture those fringes myself. The last couple of years whilst trying to work on the RC12 I have seen others produce images of this target and thought to myself that one day I would produce an image of equal standing. Next new moon I will try for more data and see what transpires. I have noted that longer subs has really paid off for me. The signal improvement is excellent.

[gvanhau]

I spent several minutes watching the High-res image.
I'm very happy to see your result, as it is an indicator what I can expect form my scope. Of course, the telescope is not all what is needed, but....

Geert

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Geert, I do hope this gives heart to those that have struggled to resolve minor issues with these scopes. My optics were from a scope taken straight off the shelf so, yes this ought to be an indicator of what can be achieved with these scopes.

[Shiraz]

excellent image Paul. Detail, colour, depth all look spot on.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Ray. I am still tinkering with the back focus spacing on the TS Optical flattener so the image has its defects, but overall I am pretty happy with it. I might go deeper on it if time permits this year.

[Paul Haese]

This made AAPODx2 today. Pretty happy with that. My second one in the last 6 months.

http://www.aapodx2.com/

[gregbradley]

Congrats Paul. It is a super image.

Greg.

[Amaranthus]

Nice, Paul. You've really brought the halo out well in the latest iteration. Congrats!

[Higbyrichard]

A great image Paul,
I and I am sure others have followed with interest the images you are taking with the GSO RC12. Really interesting to see you push this scope.
I would have thought that 20 minute subs might have washed out star colour. You proved me wrong.
Inspirational images Mate.

[Hagar]

Well deserved Paul. A ripper image.

[marco]

Wow, almost missed this one! Indeed a very fine image Paul, it looks remarkably "natural" yet with lots of details and great color balance, you deserve all the appreciation comments you got!
Regards
Marco

[Rex]

Smashing image Paul, top notch! The detail in that dust lane is incredible. Congratulations on a stunning result.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Greg, Barry, Doug and Ray for your comments. I really appreciate you taking the time to comment.



Thanks Richard. There is an idea that has been getting around based on the physics of any given sensor that short subs of 5-10 minutes is the right exposure length. In fact there have been several discussions about this very issue here on IIS. Some of the confirmation arguments have been that going longer means that you will end up with satellite trails and wind gusts and guiding etc that could effectively destroy the sub. Where I image from, wind gusts at night are almost non existent and it is rare that there is wind at that site during the night. Its and odd thing, but pleasing. Satellite trails can be removed via data rejection techniques. Guiding errors etc, have been nulled out to as good as I can get them without using an AOX (which I have now bought). As to star colour, my experiments have shown that I get no discernible change from 5 minutes to 30 minutes in duration. What I have found is the amount of data that helps with star colour. Anything over 100 minutes really helps with processing the star colour. This image has two channels that are a bit short and I had to do a lot of work to bring out the colours. It would have been easier with more data in the colour channels. Others will disagree but I will stick with long subs to pick up more signal.




Thanks Marco, I am very pleased with the general look of this galaxy but if I picked up double to triple this amount of data I have no doubt more detail could be shown.

One thing I have always tried to do with my processing whether it be planetary, solar or DSO is exhibit fine detail rather than large blocky detail which looks over sharpened. Fine detail processing (which I developed whilst doing a lot of planetary imaging) gives a sharper look in my opinion and has to be applied with selective masking techniques. As you would know, there is a fine line between looking sharp and over sharpened. Something that looks natural can be very hard to achieve and having good data to start with makes that possible. Poor data or a lack of it makes achieving that look nearly impossible.




Thanks Rex. I am pleased with how the dust lane detail looks. My previous long focal length attempt was pretty ordinary in comparison. I will have to re image this object next year with the use of the AOX just to see if I can get sharper detail in the dust lanes.