The Fornax Cluster

[seeker372011]

I imaged this cluster of galaxies last Saturday night from Linden, the same night Louie bagged the Crab and NGC 2070. The moon hadn't set when I started imaging and the sky was still not very dark when I had to wind up thanks to a dying battery( and the fact that I had a 22 km 7 bridges walk scheduled for the next day)

well it took me a full week to get around to processing it, but here is the outcome

Details: 76 minutes of exposure (9 x 4 minutes at ISO 1600 plus 4 x10 minutes at ISO 1600)
camera: un-modded canon 300D
telescope: ED 80
Mount CG5
Autoguided (5 inch newtonian guide scope, Atik 1 C guide camera)
raw images aligned and stacked in IRIS
processed in photoshop and Neat

While there are a number of bright galaxies easily discernable, I was pleasantly surprised to serendipitiously discover that the 17.01 magnitude galaxy PGC 646697 - a very close neighbour of NGC 1427A- appears as a tiny but distinguishable dot, so I suppose that is how faint an object this imaging system is capable of capturing

A larger image is available at
http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=288367686&size=l

a larger inverted image is available at

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=288367687&size=l

thanks for looking, comments and suggstions welcome
narayan

[atalas]

Great shot Narayan ! a gorgeous cluster mate .

[Ric]

Hi Narayan, that is one excellent image and to reach mag 17 as well is very impressive.
You've done a great job with that image.

cheers

[janoskiss]

That is just fantastic! The large "negative" image is the best, easiest to see structure in, IMO. That single shot is enough to convince one that most galaxies are disk-like objects!!

And all that from an 80mm scope!! :bowdown:

[strongmanmike]

Nice work Narayan

I like the look of negative representations, they often show up faint details better as you have demonstrated.

Mike

[toetoe]

Magical stuff seeker, a fantastic picture.:thumbsup:

[[1ponders]]

Aye, it is a fantastic area to image and the ED80 and 300D do a fantastic job of it. I snaffled it a couple of weeks ago (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17744&d=1159806359) but it isn't anywhere near as clean a shot as you have managed. What do you do to control the noise/grain? Mine was only 7X240@ISO800 yet has much more noise than your 1600s.

[seeker372011]

Thanks for the nice words folks

Paul I do well remember your fine shot of the area.

I too struggled to battle with noise, but the much longer total exposure-at least in theory should have vastly improved the S/N

The other thing I found was that using any stretch function in IRIS just didnt provide enough control..it was adding noise and clipping highlights..so after aligning, stacking (kappa Sigma) in IRIS -and applying the magnificant subsky function to fight gradient I did all the rest of the processing in Photoshop

[Garyh]

A nice job Narayan, both look great.... its what the ed80 is great at!!!
Cheers Gary

[[1ponders]]

I've avoided using 1600 because of the increased noise/grain. I might have to try again using 1600 though and try to get more shots and work on my noise reduction skills :D I have been trying Neat Image, but I don't like the general blotchiness of the outcome. Maybe just need more practice ;)

[RB]

Excellent work Narayan, love the detail especially in the neg version.

Paul I'm wondering also if the ambient temp has helped Narayan and affected yours?

[rogerg]

Wow. I'm really impressed with the magnitude you've reached with an un-modded 350D .. very nice. The galaxies shown have very nice smooth detail. Congrats.

Roger.

[Octane]

Narayan,

That's magnificent! Well done, mate.

I'm simply astounded by the number of galaxies in that small patch of the sky, wow!

I'm glad you got some data that night. I got zilch. :)

Regards,
Humayun

[seeker372011]

good point..it was down to 5 deg or below that night at Linden

never mind humayun, there's always next time :)

[andrew]

WoW! Simply amazing image, thanks for sharing :)

[spacezebra]

Absolutely beautiful

Cheers Petra

[Striker]

What a terrific image Narayan.

I've never really liked or appreciated negative images but you have changed my mind.

great stuff.

[seeker372011]

thanks again all

and Markarian's chain is not too far off and maybe us ED 80 users can all have a bit of a go at that target ;)

[ving]

very cool narayan! :thumbsup:

[richardo]

Hi Narayan,
well persevered image.
Especially if you had to have your strength for the super walk the next day.

The more sub-exposures to the image composite, the better the image.. smoother and easier to stretch and process as is proved with this excellent image.
Great to see the fainter galaxies surounding the brighter more imaged objects.. gives us an idea of the super galaxy clusters formation in the greater extent of the sky.

Top stuff!!:thumbsup:

Cheers
Rich