Centaurus A 31 years apart

[strongmanmike]

Having been imaging the heavens for some 33 years now, I have some old data that is very interesting to compare to recent efforts, to see just how far we have come in this imaging game....

Here is a comparison between my latest Centaurus A image with one I captured way back in 1984 as a teenager using what was then somehwat advanced amateur astrophotographic equipment too :)

Centaurus A 31 years apart (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/160317559/original) (more information and links under the picture)

Also incredible is that the same two photographers were present on each occasion...Attila and I are still good friends, even after all this time, which is really cool too.

This is the Cold Camera (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/154830231/original) we built and was used for the 1984 shot..and in fairness, the 1984 shot is a photo of an old print.

Bit of nostalgic fun for the long weekend :thumbsup:

Mike

[alpal]

Good post Mike,
By the way - your PM email box is full so no one can reply to your emails.

cheers
Allan

[Rod771]

Love this!

I can only image the excitement you experienced when seeing your result in 1984. Both are very excellent images Mike! :thumbsup:

I was playing with Masters of the Universe figures in 1984! :rofl:

[IanP]

What a difference, Mr. Michael? Did you have C5 then?

[TR]

It's amazing what the results of technology, techniques, and knowledge can yield. Did you have fewer satellites in the images back then? I have on sub with just under 20 satellite trails through it. I hate those guys...

Great post.

Terry

[strongmanmike]

Glad to hear Al and Fixed :thumbsup:



Oh yeah! Waiting to see the negatives after chemical development in the wardrobe the excitement was palpable and followed by shrill exclamations of "you can see the dust lane!!" when looking at the still wet negative strip through a small magnifier and the sense of achievement and satisfaction was huge when finally seeing a developed print under white light....some time later :)



Ahhh, well, as indicated, yes...it was actually Attila's scope :)



It is really fascinating to see I recon Terry, that photo even formed part of a multi award winning display at the time too :eyepop:...the standard required has certainly increased :lol:

Mike

[Atmos]

It is staggering how far technology has come in the last 30 years. That 1984 predates my existence by some 5 years!

[SpaceNoob]

Wow, what a difference :eyepop:

I like the vintage feel of the first one haha.... Oh, 1984.... the year I went from being a womb dwelling fetus.... to an air breathing fetus. :whistle:

[RobF]

Love these comparisons Mike. You were in the right place at the right time to have access to the facilities and people by sounds of it - and made damn good use of your time.

Can't help but suspect you had just as much awe and excitement when you saw the blurry expose of a distant galaxy 31 years ago versus that recent splendid rendition? :)

[strongmanmike]

Local secondary colleges here in the ACT had access to the old 9" Oddie refractor as did members of the Canberra Astronomical Society, both of which covered me at the time. The Celestron 5, cold camera, fridge compressor (vacuum pump) etc were all ours, we just used the Oddie as the tracking platform, which wasn't all that accurate in fact and required attentive hand guiding via curtain like pull cords to re position the guide star :scared:



Yep, you are totally right...although I have had lots of eye time processing Centaurus A now of course :lol:

Mike

[RickS]

That's the most dramatic Sidonio before and after I've seen so far, Mike :lol:

[Placidus]

;) Just shows how much the galaxy has changed in 31 years ;)

The only astro-photo I took back then was of a solar eclipse, taken by placing a dry gum-leaf at the primary focus of my hand-made 6". The one second F/8 exposure punched a nice half-inch crescent-shaped hole in the leaf :scared3: and made a nice perfume. Didn't need developing, but the fixer bath was the swimming pool. Betimes you were photographing galaxies! :thumbsup:

[Higbyrichard]

Wow Mike, That is thought provoking.
That's got me thinking.

[jenchris]

I compared one of my early Jupiter pics taken with my 450D on the lx90. Three or four subs.
Mount Palomar is a 200 inch so should have a wonderful result.
Pics from Palomar are from 1970 book by Patrick Moore.
Progress in the rt s just amazing.

[Tony_]

Great comparison Mike!
31 years ago you would have been rapt with that image - today your subs probably look better. Amazing what technology and experience can do.

Tony.

[Stevec35]

Good comparison Mike. I well remember when I would have been absolutely overjoyed to get an image like the one on the left. There were lots of Centaurus A attempts floating around in those days because in general it's a pretty forgiving galaxy. I still remember the supernova in it I missed once because I failed to look at the image closely enough.

[Fabiomax]

This composition is quite remarkable. I find deep thought. Both for what has been the evolution of imaging, and I think also a beautiful story of friendship,
Thanks for sharing,
Cheers,
Fabiomax

[strongmanmike]

Yep, amazing Tony :thumbsup:



As I said, that comparison shot taken with the C5 is a photo taken of an old B&W 8X10 print done in 1985 so the original result was slightly superior but still..no comparison regardless :)



Thanks Fabio, I sent this comparison to Attila for him to see too and he was pretty blown away by it and yes it is great that we have continued to do this crazy dark art together for so long and we both remember that night way back in 1984 very well, it was a lot of work to get setup and then pack up (not to mention the work that went into constructing the camera and mounting gear) and then develop the negative and print the print...but we knew no different...so we just did it :)

Mike

[marco]

:) Nostalgic yet interesting comparison.
Apart from the clear advance in technology (your today image is better than the best effort one could take with the Siding Spring Schmidt on plates) another important thing to notice is that.. we are getting old ;)

In 1984 I took my first image of the sky (I am just a bit younger than you), fixed tripod, color slide (a Kodak 400 asa, don't remember the name, the fastest I found), 50mm lens f/2.8 and a Nikkormat body borrowed from my father (that was I believe already 20 years old at that time). Target was Orion, from my backyard. Well, when I got it back from the lab and projected on the wall, I spent hours in awe admiring the little pinky smudge of m42. I still believe that the emotions those first images produced (along with some few one more that followed as I home-built my first barndoor tracking device) cannot be matched even by the best result I could get today with my current equipment (or even larger)..
That is nostalgic :shrug:

Cheers
Marco

[Ross G]

Great comparison Mike and nice memories.

You had some great toys when you were young!

Ross.

[Geoff45]

Well I can beat that for a dramatic before and after. Will post tomorrow after I've dug through some old files.
Geoff

[strongmanmike]

Bring it own dude :cool:

[Geoff45]

OK, here are three pics of ngc1232, the original from 2008, the same one reprocessed a short while ago and one from 2014. Shows that we (or at least I) have improved in three ways: better equipment, better acquisition practice and better processing.

It's also interesting to read the original thread here http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=28540&highlight=1232

[Slawomir]

Michael and Geoff, your have just provided us with evidence that the Universe has been contracting for at least 31 years...

[Geoff45]

Yeah, that does make sense. Much easier to capture stuff as it gets closer.
Geoff

[strongmanmike]

Ha ha yeah you're right never thought that the marked improvements could actually be just that things are just getting much closer :lol:

[strongmanmike]

Yeah good improvements there Geoff :thumbsup:

Thing is and remarkably, my 1984 Centaurus A was actually quite up there for its time, ie and if we are talking about the original high quality B&W print (a bit better than what I used in the comparison), there were very few amateur shots any better. Of course the display platform for peoples work was muuuuch smaller ie no internet just S&T and Astronomy mag really..?

Mike

[graham.hobart]

Gawd I love these then and nows.
Just excellent Mike and the progress has been boggling.
I have some old books with state of the art pro pictures worse than that!
And that cooled camera is so..... Back to the future cool!! Mcfly!!!
I have access to liquid nitrogen at work, maybe I should really cool my old home modded 450d......!!!! (Not!)
Keep em' coming - it's galactic ally inspiring ( so is the longevity of the friendship :D

[Nico13]

Good one Mike,
It's nice to look at the old shots and compare.
I've got some taken a couple of years after that in 86 but I don't think I'll be around to do the comparison shot next time the target comes around in 2061, I'd be 107 :sadeyes:

[strongmanmike]

Glad you enjoyed the Back to the Future comparison Graham, pretty amazing huh? :thumbsup: and yes it is pretty cool that I have been doing astro pursuits with Attila for well over 30 years now. We met in the school library of Dickson College in Canberra when I was in Yr11, it was the first week of school and I was a new kid and knew no one. I had taken a years worth of US Astronomy mags from the shelf and was quietly sitting flipping through them when Attila came in, noticed them missing from the shelf and, like me, thinking he was the only astro nerd in the school, his eye's lit up and he thought Ooooh! they are never missing, who has'em??, he looked around the library and saw me, came over and said "Hi I am Attila"...I thought he was joking :lol:, "what? Who?" I said, "I am Attila, as in the Hun" he replied, we were inseparable from then on and the rest is history as they say :)



Ah good'ol Haley's huh? Yeah, we took plenty (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/halleys_comet_1986) of her too :thumbsup: do you still have yours Ken?

Mike