The Doomsday Machine (UPDATED)

[Andy01]

The Doomsday Machine - Cometary Globule CG4 in Puppis

Inspired by Mike, Greg and a few others, I thought I'd take a crack at this while on holiday in rural Tasmania, about 15 mins out of Burnie under nice dark skies.

An interesting target, as it appears ready to devour spiral galaxy NGC 2427, maybe fans of Star Trek TOS will recognize the title!

10hrs Ha, 40mins ea of L,R,G & B.

We're staying on top of a hill and the wind blows in from almost every direction making it necessary to create a makeshift lean to out of a couple of sheets of roofing iron, an old table and some bungee cords!

Damn but this thing dim :eyepop:- makes the Sharpless bubble look like the MCG under lights in comparison. Hard to find too... still nothing like a challenge!

This image is still a bit noisy so will probably add some more data to this later from back home in Melbourne. Oh, I'm just using the laptop so the colours etc. may not be perfect either.

High res to follow - the kids have used up the internet here watching youtube!

C&C welcome, and Happy new year all :)

Updated image - Here (http://www.astrobin.com/full/235840/0/) (see comments below)

[Placidus]

Wow, must be faint, after 10hrs of H-alpha. That would perhaps explain why it's not so often photographed, despite being rather yummy.

Nice Season's Greetings RGB stars too.

Well done.

[multiweb]

Great shot. Looks like a worm from Dune. That galaxy is on borrowed time. :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

An interesting take Andy...great use of holiday time though :thumbsup:

Mike

[RickS]

I've always wanted to have a go at that one, Andy. Very nice result.

Cheers,
Rick.

[Slawomir]

Nice work Andy, I look forward to the final version :thumbsup:

[Andy01]

Thanks M&T, yes just back in Melbourne now so adding yet more Ha this week, not sure what the rule of diminishing returns will be but will reprocess after say 16 hrs and see how it's looking then.



I love Dune, (I've read them all) you're right, it does look like a sandworm - "The Spice must Flow ..."



Cheers Mike - not sure the kids will let me take the car to Tassie again, 8 hrs each way on the boat an no internet! Noooooo Daddy :D



Cheers Rick - go for it, with your gear & skills you should be able to get a great result!



Thanks Slaw - back in town working on it this week :)

[gregbradley]

Great shot Andy. Not sure about the colouring. My version and others I have seen have a kind of weird magentish large dust area at the base. A bit like the Witchhead Nebula. Perhaps its in your RGB data.

Greg.

[Andy01]

I've added 2 hrs more Ha to this from Melbourne, and also rejected two hrs of my previous subs that had satellites and clouds etc.

Also thanks to your combined input, I've completely reprocessed from scratch now that I have access to a decent monitor. Hopefully you'll agree it's a significant improvement :)

There's a couple of lingering hot pixels that I havn't removed as yet, and it could still use yet more data to smooth it out further, but I'm keen to move on, so here it is in High res. (http://www.astrobin.com/full/235840/0/)

Comments etc welcome :)

[Atmos]

It looks like there is a dark hand moving to snatch a galaxy ;)

Nicely processed :)

[Andy01]

Thanks Colin, and you're right, it does look a bit like that. There's some amazing looking things up there alright :)

[rustigsmed]

looking very good Andy! nice work!

[Regulus]

Haven't really seen this interesting cloud and CG before, and it's a fascinating formation.
Nicely photographed Andy.
I used to live in Burnie and sometimes just made the drive half way to Ridgley to stare at the stars. Nice dark skies everywhere down here.

Cheers - Trev

[skysailor]

Very nice shot Andy,
an interesting target for sure and I can just picture you huddled behind some old rusty tin sheets trying to keep your scope still... :)
cheers

[gary]

Hi Andy,

Really nice image!

CG 4 is the object that David Malin christened some years back as
"The Hand of God".

http://au.phaidon.com/agenda/photography/picture-galleries/2010/may/28/ancient-light-a-portrait-of-the-universe/?idx=3&idx=3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CG_4

http://au.phaidon.com/agenda/photography/picture-galleries/2010/may/28/ancient-light-a-portrait-of-the-universe/?idx=3&idx=3

[Andy01]

Thanks Russell - glad you liked it :thumbsup:



Thanks Trev, yes nice dark skies in Tassie indeed - looking forward to a return visit :)



Lol, cheers - see photo below :D





Thanks Gary, I have a copy of that book at home but didn't recall seeing that image in it until you mentioned it. Just goes to show that DM's a legend!

[topheart]

Well done Andy!

A great capture!
Cheers,
Tim