Often overlooked for Omega

[strongmanmike]

A beautiful clear and cold (-3 deg C) out at Wallaroo last night so I had a great evening of astro endeavours, including imaging and observing with my mate Attila (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/110766126/original), we had great fun and pulled an allnighter and everything outside was covered with ice at pack up time...ahhh that's the life :lol:.... :zzz2: :D.

Started on a new project then later in the night and at Attila's request, grabbed this relative quicky :thumbsup:

Overshadowed by its gigantic brethren, the mighty Omega Centauri just 5deg away, the much smaller and fainter NGC 5286 in Centaurus makes a beautiful pairing with a bright (but completely unrelated) K-M class star and because of this, NGC 5286 is one of my favourite globular clusters to look at through a telescope....and I did while imaging it :thumbsup: it's such a jewel like scene.

Taming a bright star so near a subject is always a challenge..but I think I pulled it off? Also worth mentioning is that under a high contrast stretch the whole field is covered by a web of very faint galactic cirrus dust, similar to what we see near Omega Centauri in deep images, so perhaps a longer exposure at some stage is worth a thought..?

NGC 5286 (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/160165599/original)

[cometcatcher]

That's a sweet one Mike. I especially like objects near bright stars. I didn't even realise it was there, otherwise I would have had a go at it. Maybe I'll give it a try when this rain clears off. Not that it will look anything like yours.

[dvj]

What a great image.

[alpal]

Hi Mike,
an interesting target.
Thanks for sharing something a little off the beaten track.

cheers
Allan

[Placidus]

Hi, Mike,

A really lovely shot and a great story.

I notice that super-bright K0 star is magnitude 4, whereas the globular is 7.6, so you've done a fantastic job of showing them both together. Love the really long diffraction spikes. Like a mediaeval caltrop.

This might be one of those rare occasions when some prestidigitation might be justified to give the star its unstretched colour.

Best,
MBJ

[RickS]

A very pretty pairing, Mike!

[rustigsmed]

definitely a great pairing nice work!

[Camelopardalis]

What a great guide star...I mean glob :D nice one Mike :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Mike :thumbsup: re the bright star, I thought I had actually ie a bright slightly red-yellow star..? maybe I could saturate it a tad more :question: but you know me and my conservative approach to saturation :P :lol:

Kevin I am sure your rendition will be lovely mate, finders are good for producing works of art :)

Thanks everyone else too, sometimes it is just nice to take am simple image to capture a visually pleasing scene, rather than for some sort of wow factor :)

Mike

[Ross G]

A beautiful photo Mike.

Love the composition!

Ross.

[leon]

Nicely done Mike, really like that long diffraction spike as well, a lovely pair indeed.

Leon

[jase]

Great cluster. Well done Mike!

[strongmanmike]

Cheers men :thumbsup:

I agree Leon, the big spikes do look good in this case I recon :)

Mike

[Stevec35]

Nice one Mike! I've imaged this one myself and the bright star certainly adds interest.

Cheers

Steve

[Regulus]

That's a pretty good result Mike, especially with that torch pointing straight down the scope.
I have never seen this cluster! I have looked at Omega a hundred times and never this. Seriously need to get a sky map out.
Anyway, well done.

Trev

[Bassnut]

Too many stars. But I do like the multicolour diffraction spikes.

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Trevor, she's worth a look next time you are under dark skies and easy to find given the proximity to Omega :)



:rolleyes:....sigh..the sky is full of stars I am afraid Fred, put there by God just to annoy you :poke: :innocent:

Mike

[SkyViking]

Wonderful vista there Mike. NGC 5286 is one of my favourite globular clusters because of its nice pairing with M Centauri. It was one I practiced on with my early test images from back when I got the QSI camera. Perhaps a deep exposure would be interesting as you say :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Rolf, have you had a look through a good scope at the pair? A great sight

Now..I..wonder...what....Rolf...is. ..imaging...for 200hrs....:question:

..a Mozaic?...I'm going with a deep M104 so you can get all its globuli :D

Mike