Cen A - Now in HaLRGB

[codemonkey]

I say in the raw, because I've barely done any post processing on this. One histogram adjustment and cropped off the ragged edges and that's it. Not even any decon.

I think this is probably the sharpest broadband data I've worked with to date. Hopefully I can get some decent quality RGB too.

Full res (mono) on Astrobin (http://www.astrobin.com/248939/).

And now full res HaLRGB (http://www.astrobin.com/248992/) is also available, with Halpha data provided by Slawomir.

[peter_4059]

Looks good Lee.

[gregbradley]

That's excellent Lee. Very high quality data.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Yep, excellent Lee :thumbsup:

Reminds me of a comparison (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/141800216/original) I did some years ago to vividly demonstrate what good seeing provided compared to bad....

Mike

[Placidus]

You've caught the relativistic jet, which is hard to see in monochrome. Excellent work.

[Atmos]

That's some really good detail Lee, your seeing definitely has been better than mine (reportably others too!). This looks like the beginning of an excellent image :)

[codemonkey]

Thanks Peter!



Thanks greg! I'm pretty happy with it.



Cheers Mike! Great example. I used to think I had bad seeing, but now I think I have pretty good seeing generally speaking, and finally have the equipment and enough experience to start putting it to work.



Oooh, thanks for that Mike, I didn't even notice. I often notice little things like this but don't even know what to search for to figure out what they are, but I didn't even see that.



Thanks Colin. Actually, seeing has been a real mixed bag here lately. The RGB for the Antennae was total junk.

I actually tried to get RGB on Cen A before I got the luminance, but the seeing was the worst I've ever seen and I actually packed up. I've never packed up before. The single best sub had an FWHM of over 3"

That was Thursday night, and then last night I caught this, with the worst sub having an FWHM of 2.2"

[troypiggo]

Nice! That Esprit looks like it produces some pretty round stars to the corners.

[Shiraz]

another wow dataset - your system is really delivering the goods.

[alpal]

Hi Lee,
great data -
what are the technical details as they are not shown on Astrobin.

cheers
Allan

[codemonkey]

Cheers Ray! Just makes me wonder what I could get with a good 8" reflector..... hmm.



Thanks Allan :-)

Yeah, I was being lazy since the Astrobin one is only in staging. I planned to put full details on the finished product.

This was 84x144s subs, taken with the gear in my signature, and an Astrodon Gen II E-series luminance filter. Cooling set to ~ -20c, bin 1x1.

[alpal]

Hi Lee,
I can't find your signature.
I can however see info from a previous pic:

Technical card


Imaging telescope or lens: Skywatcher Esprit 120mm f/7 (http://www.astrobin.com/gear/22566/skywatcher-esprit-120mm-f7/)
Imaging camera: Starlight Xpress Trius SX-674 (http://www.astrobin.com/gear/28659/starlight-xpress-trius-sx-674/)
Mount: Avalon Instruments Linear Fast Reverse (http://www.astrobin.com/gear/39381/avalon-instruments-linear-fast-reverse/)
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI 174MM (http://www.astrobin.com/gear/40099/zwo-asi-174mm/)
Software: Main Sequence Software Sequence Generator Pro (http://www.astrobin.com/gear/49181/main-sequence-software-sequence-generator-pro/), OpenPHD PHD 2 (http://www.astrobin.com/gear/44371/openphd-phd-2/), Photoshop CC (http://www.astrobin.com/gear/15380/photoshop-cc/), Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight (http://www.astrobin.com/gear/29339/pleiades-astrophoto-pixinsight/)
Filters: Astronomik SII 6nm (http://www.astrobin.com/gear/49162/astronomik-sii-6nm/), Astronomik OIII 6nm (http://www.astrobin.com/gear/44890/astronomik-oiii-6nm/), Baader Planetarium 1.25" Narrowband H-Alpha Filter - 7nm (http://www.astrobin.com/gear/31578/baader-planetarium-125-narrowband-h-alpha-filter-7nm/)


Resolution: 1888x1384
Frames:
Baader Planetarium 1.25" Narrowband H-Alpha Filter - 7nm (http://www.astrobin.com/gear/31578/baader-planetarium-125-narrowband-h-alpha-filter-7nm/): 20x600" -20C bin 1x1
Astronomik OIII 6nm (http://www.astrobin.com/gear/44890/astronomik-oiii-6nm/): 8x600" -20C bin 1x1
Astronomik SII 6nm (http://www.astrobin.com/gear/49162/astronomik-sii-6nm/): 6x600" -20C bin 1x1
Integration: 5.7 hours

[Slawomir]

What a great image Lee!

Beautiful round stars and the image is very sharp too :thumbsup:

I decided to try an experiment and have been collecting Halpha data for the same target over the last few nights. Signal is much weaker but some features show up quite nicely already. Let me know if you would like to use my data in your image Lee.

[codemonkey]

That's the stuff alright!




Cheers Suavi :-) Definitely keen for a collaboration and it'll be interesting to see how this one shows up in Ha.

I'm (hopefully) gathering RGB right at the moment and should finish up pretty soon. Don't plan on getting a lot of RGB though. I'll make my masters available to you as well, should you want to use them.

[Eden]

In spite of the hassles you experienced last year, it looks like you've well and truly nailed down the sweet spot for both scope and sensor. Very nicely done, mate. Power to the Esprit! :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

Wow! a 120mm refractor? Way to go Lee! :thumbsup: Looking excellent so far!

Cheers, Marcus

[RobF]

That's look amazing so far Lee!

[codemonkey]

Yep, still with the Esprit, it's the only scope I have. Very happy with its optics! Thanks Marcus :-)



Thanks Rob!

[strongmanmike]

Niiiiiiiice :thumbsup: I can see the SN in there too! Crisp natural sharpness, a really good job.

Mike

[Rex]

That is really sweet Lee! Very sharp and nicely processed.

[codemonkey]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that haha. Thanks Mike!



Thanks Rex! :-)

[Slawomir]

The colour version has turned out really well Lee :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

Yep, colour version looks great Lee! :thumbsup:. I reckon the colour is a little bit understated though (for my taste anyway). You could easily get away with adding a bit more vibrance.

Cheers, Marcus

[alpal]

Nice image Lee,
You could even add a bit more contrast & saturation to the brightest parts
of the galaxy with a blurred layer mask - if you wanted to.
It's amazing to go so deep with a 120mm refractor.
You must have had good seeing.

cheers
Allan

[codemonkey]

Cheers Ray!



Thanks Marcus. I've taken your feedback on board and upped the vibrance/saturation on the Astrobin version. I'll upload the adjusted one here shortly.



Thanks again Allan! I've also taken your feedback on board and given more contrast to the dust lanes.

[alpal]

Hi Lee,
just saw the updated new version.
It's great with more contrast & saturation in the core.
Well done.

cheers
Allan

[Atmos]

The colour version is fantastic Lee! You're really pushing the capabilities of that little <5" refractor :P

[RobF]

+1

In fact the only thing you could do to improve it now is collect another 100 odd hours. Who would do that on Cent A though.... :question: :D

[RobC]

Top Marks Lee. Congratulations. Sombrero next.

Cheers

Rob

[codemonkey]

Thanks mate! I think I made that one a bit too blue though.



Cheers Colin! :-)



hahah. He's a bugger, that guy. You can do a good job, but it's still not Rolf Olsen 120hrs good.



Thanks mate! I actually did sombrero recently, but it was a poor effort and more of an experiment than anything. I'm thinking about giving it another go actually.

In other news, Suavi kindly provided me with his great H-alpha data, which I have now combined with my LRGB. It really brings out that relativistic jet and some nice detail in the dust lanes. Thanks Suavi!

The HaLRGB is available on Astrobin in full res, and I'll update the original post to include a lower res version in a moment.

[alpal]

I don't think it's too blue - at least not on my monitor.


Rolf Olsen has shown us the way:
long integration times to get more depth than giant professional telescopes -
to show us formerly invisible halos.
What's more - those huge halos may very well be where dark matter is hiding.

cheers
Allan

[Slawomir]

I think the new LHaRGB version looks great! Awesome processing Lee :thumbsup:

[Bart]

Not bad, mate, not bad! :)

[Atmos]

Looks good with the added Ha, some of it even looks like it is on fire!

[RobF]

Wowser. I was day dreaming what these two datasets would look like together a bit earlier. Very happy to see you've both collaborated.

Top stuff!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Paul Haese]

The HaLRGB image is certainly striking. The Ha data makes for a different perspective. Your image is the second image tonight I have seen the extended jet right up the top left of you image. I like the colour overall. Well done.

edit, just read that the Ha comes from Suavi. Great combination.

[gregbradley]

An image to be proud of Lee. Nice processing and the stars look very good as well.

Greg.

[RickS]

Excellent work on the combined image, Lee!

[multiweb]

Wow, that's really nice. I like the red ha bit. It really enhances the shot and balances the blues on the other side. Very pretty. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[codemonkey]

Thanks mate... it's that lovely Ha data that did it ;-)



Cheers Bart!



I agree, that extra Ha data really adds to the final image.



Thanks Rob! It was very kind of Suavi to offer his data.



Thanks Paul... and yep, that's why you saw the extended jet in mine. You could faintly see something there in the original LRGB integration, but the Ha data really brought it out.



Thanks Greg! I think it could probably do with a touch more contrast, so I might make a slight tweak to it yet, but I'm pretty happy with it right now.



Thanks Rick!



Thanks mate; fully agree with the colour contrast that ha data provided.

[strongmanmike]

Love the Ha blending Lee and as I suspected it would, it looks very cool, makes for a refreshingly different Cen A...the most imaged galaxy in the southern skies :thumbsup:

Mike

[codemonkey]

Thanks Mike, appreciate it! Think I'll make one more tweak on this, hopefully tonight, and call it a day.

[codemonkey]

Ok... done! I think. For now at least ;)

[Slawomir]

Lee, Version D looks even better. I like how you beautifully balanced colours :thumbsup:

I also had another go at combining your data with mine :-)
The result is not as spectacular though...: http://www.astrobin.com/full/249121/E/