A Whirlpool through the dust

[RickS]

A deep M51 through the integrated flux nebula. I've never noticed the dusty stuff in other RGB images but you can see some of it in Wise Band 3 infrared so it doesn't seem to be a processing artifact ;)

The background is a bit ugly because I did stretch this fairly violently to show the IFN better...

Captured at SRO California, 14 Feb - 20 Apr, 2016

Scope: Ceravolo C300 @ f/4.9 = 1470mm FL
Mount: AP1100
Camera: FLI PL16803
Focuser: Atlas
Filters: Astrodon
Guiding: Lodestar II / Tak guide scope
Image scale: 1.26 arcsec/pixel
Exposures: 44x600s L, 46x1200s R, 16x1200s G, 18x1200s B, 38x1800s Ha (~53 hours)
Processing: PixInsight 1.8

Acquisition credit: John Kasianowicz, Daniele Malleo, Leonardo Orazi, Rob Pfile, Rick Stevenson and Jerry Yesavage.

Processing credit: Rick Stevenson

Full res version available on Astrobin: http://www.astrobin.com/247447/None/

Cheers,
Rick.

[Andy01]

Wow! Just Wow!
I have no words to do that image justice but crikey that's impressive!
A galactic collision on a cosmic scale, one of the top ten of the year imo.
Inspires me to one day try to shoot galaxies :)
Thanks for sharing :)

[RobF]

Andy has already the first superlative that came to my lips :)
Gosh Rick, a fav object for so many, and this might be the most inspiring pic of it I've ever seen.

Interesting you went for the lesser focal length. Was that the plan all along to go for surrounding flux neb, or just image train you normally run that rig with? With the 16803 its a gobsmacking FOV! Agree about the dust off to the side - have never seen it shown so well. Just amazing.....

[Shiraz]

top image Rick - colourful and well resolved, but with a beautiful softness.

Interesting background - maybe some of the gradients that we spend so much time eradicating are actually real elements of our images?

[RickS]

Thanks, Andy! I find galaxies particularly difficult to process but they are truly amazing objects.



Thanks very much, Rob. We've been running at f/4.9 since we needed to recollimate (which is a process that has to be done in the fast config) and nobody has been on site for long enough to set up for f/9 again. So, it was just a happy accident :) I think the set up is actually more versatile at f/4.9 because you get the big FOV and still have the ability to drizzle up to higher res.

[RickS]

Thanks, Ray! I think you're probably right. Always worth checking the infrared data.

[Atmos]

Really nice Rick, I have to agree with Ray, that softness to the image really does it justice. Some of the kinda faint fuzzies are kinda resolved so that's nice.

I have found that from the limited imaging I have done, doing a drizzle integration does help with stellar shapes. That's probably been a part of imaging at 1.4-1.5"/pixel which usually ends up with 2<FWHM with local seeing conditions. My mount tends to flare them out more!

[Somnium]

wow Rick, that is simply stunning, well done

[Paul Haese]

This is a really nice looking image Rick. Lovely colour and detail. Certainly a different scale from what is often seen of this object.

[PRejto]

Another well deserved "Bravo!!" Amazing image!

Peter

[RickS]

Thanks, Colin. I find it hard to avoid a misty look when enhancing the dust but it seems to work well for these images.

Drizzle does a great job on the square stars you get with a short FL refractor like a FSQ-106 and 9um pixels :thumbsup:



Thanks, Aidan.



Ta, Paul. I didn't think the world needed another vanilla M51 ;)



Thank you, Peter.

[graham.hobart]

Beautiful Rick (and team).
Looks like an ammonite feasting !
A real jewel in the dust!
Great stuff Again
Graham

[topheart]

Very special !
Thanks,
Tim

[Slawomir]

Spectacular image Rick. I particularly like how you presented the star field and of course cosmic dust.

11/10 from me!

[ozstronomer]

Beautiful image Rick, unbelievable to see what around that galaxy.

Great work :thumbsup:

Cheers Geoff

[RickS]

I don't have any idea what Ammonites would have eaten but I can see the resemblance :) Thanks, Graham.



Thanks, Tim.



Thank you for the score, Suavi :D



Ta, Geoff!

[Bart]

Very nice, mate, galaxy is just lovely! That one beautiful attractive spot in all that blackness, would absolutely love to be in a space ship out there seeing that sort of stuff, in colour or not! :eyepop:

[phomer]

Rick,

I wondered how you could produce such an impressive image of M51 from Australia and then I noticed it was from California.

Well done.

Regards

Paul

[Stevec35]

Extremely nice Rick! You don't often see this thing in wide field.

Cheers

Steve

[RickS]

Thanks, Bart.



Thanks, Paul. Definitely wouldn't have been possible to do that from home in Brisbane :)



Thanks, Steve. I really like the big field of the current setup at SRO. With Drizzle you can still get a reasonable level of detail on larger galaxies too.

[codemonkey]

Such dust! Much detail! Very wow! Great job, Rick.

[RickS]

Thanks, Lee :lol:

[strongmanmike]

Gee...lemmi see, I think I agree with Lee
Woweee!

Veree nice shot Rickee :thumbsup:

Mikee
Poet :question:

[RickS]

Thanks, Mikeeeeeee!

[Placidus]

Stunning. Beautiful colour especially.

A great reason to have an eye in the North.

[RickS]

Thanks, M&T! I should try some interferometry.

Cheers,
Rick.

[rustigsmed]

nice work Rick, looking super deep there, I'm not sure I have seen a deeper shot of the whirlpool! lovely field with excellent colour.

russ

[deeplook]

Very, very well done Rick! I can't remember that I've seen that faint stuff there before!

Why didi you take so much more R-frames or is this just a typing error?

Markus

[Ryderscope]

That is certainly an awesome display. The features in the galaxy are an artwork in themselves. Stunning work.

[gregbradley]

Late to the party, but that is a super image Rick.

Greg.

[Rex]

That is simply stunning Rick, simply stunning!

[RickS]

Thanks, Russ.



Thank you, Markus. The number of frames is correct. I'd like to say that we captured extra red data because the dust is reddish (the IFN does stand out best in the red master) but it was really because we lost a lot of data due to high cloud and it was just a fluke that more of the red data was usable ;)



Ta, Rodney.



Thanks, Greg.



And thanks, Rex!

[multiweb]

Looks very good. :thumbsup: You guys need to hammer this one with more FL. Just hijack one of those big RCs next door while it's dark. ;)

[RickS]

Thanks, Marc! Sounds like a plan. Pirate imaging, Arrgh :lol: