Omega the Great

[strongmanmike]

Home sick with a bad cold :sadeyes: and for some reason felt like looking at an image of Omega Centauri :question:.... so I decided to rework some data I collected way back in early 2013, when the big FLI 16803 was last on the AG12.

Remarkably, this is only 34min worth of data...so, probably worth going back for some more sometime huh? ;).

Anyway...when you consider this, still pretty deep frame, is almost 2 deg on the side you can appreciate the enormous amount of sky this ball of stars takes up and equates to an area several times that off the full moon!

Quite a number of distant background galaxies can be found peeking through between the millions of foreground Milky Way stars and some very faint Milky Way Cirrus dust can be seen across the lower half of the frame too.

Warning - umpteen 1000's of tiny stars, so if you have astigmatism try squinting or look closely, better still, make sure you have your glasses on :cool2: :)

Omega the Great (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/163762096/original)

To get a better idea of the grandure of the overall scene, I actually recommend shrinking the image to 50% in your browser :)

Mike

[atalas]

The big guy with a big cluster.....what a sight:thumbsup:

[codemonkey]

Goddamn, nice res, Mike! Feel better soon.

[Atmos]

VERY nice Mike! Amazing what has been achieved with such a limited data set! Fast scope with huge pixels do capture those photons pretty quickly!

I know I suffer from astigmatism, with and without glasses, worse without. I didn't notice any at all on your image, I find that some images are worse than others. Case in point, Gregs RH with the 694 combination is really bad for my eyes. All the stars with that combination look elongated until I zoom like 1000%. It doesn't do it when he's used the 16803 on the RH however, not sure why.

[clive milne]

That is very good Mike... I'll pay that!

[Stevec35]

That's a very pretty Omega Mike. Get well soon.

Cheers

Steve

[RickS]

Nice result, Mikey. Get well soon!

[strongmanmike]

Thanks for the feedback boys :thumbsup: really is a magnificent object huh? Not often seen at this FOV and image scale either...certainly makes me consider remounting the big 16803 on the AG12 again :question:

Oh and feeling better too, back to work tomorrow.....

Mike

[Atmos]

In the mean time your 16803 can have a home :P

[Maurice]

That's a great FOV Mike...
..and a great image.

congrats
Maurice

[Shiraz]

yep, sure is a wonderful image of one of the most attractive objects of the lot. Time to set up another scope and mount so that you can get the best out of both of those great cameras.

[gregbradley]

Good image Mike. Quite impactful.

The 16803 is still the best sensor around in my opinion.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Yes I am sure it could :lol: and if you lived closer and brought your gear to Wallaroo I would be quite happy for you to use it Col :) but a $20K camera/filtewheel/filters is covered under my (significant) insurance policy and I would be reluctant to post it away...so buy that new house here in Canberra mate and we can discuss :thumbsup:



Cheers Maurice



Thanks and I agree Ray, it is my intention to go one step further in the field of view dept by getting myself a new FSQ106ED4 at the end of the year to use with the PL16803 and mount it side saddle with the AG12 on the NJP. It will be pushing the NJP a tad but I am quietly confident it will handle it...if not :question:...I'll be in trouble :sadeyes: :thumbsup:

Mike

[strongmanmike]

Yes it is a keeper for now :thumbsup:

Mike

[Placidus]

It's much, much bigger and mightier than it showed up in our attempt. Like those faint distant galaxies too.

[el_draco]

Can you find Wally in among all that !:bowdown:

[strongmanmike]

The larger than usual FOV helps put it the correct scale and context I recon :)



No, not reeeally Rom... but there are a few little galaxies :P

Mike

[Phil Hart]

I'm a 'sharp stars' kind of guy so I prefer this more under-sampled style of image from your AG12. nice shot!

but i know you like pushing the limits more for your hubble comparisons ;)

Phil

[strongmanmike]

He he thanks Phil :)

Yeah, the same scope (in the same optical configuration ie. no barlow etc) that did this Omeg Cen ...also did THIS (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/154904467/original) - two extremes :D

Mike

[Atmos]

I did the calculations on a 16803, filter wheel, full LRGB and 3nm Astrodons set (Ha, SII, OIII & NII) and it's close to $40,000 AUD :P
One of the reasons I bought this astrograph is for its 55mm imaging circle, would love to give it a shot one day. Of course, the first night would probably be dedicated to getting it square for nice star edges :P

Bet it'll sit nicely on a FSQ with a 4" focuser :P

[strongmanmike]

WELL!...I'm definitely not posting it anywhere then :eyepop: :lol:...although I only have 11.8nm NB's in mine..and no NII :)



Sorry? Astrograph?...please explain :question:



Hope so ;)

Mike

[Atmos]

5.1" F/5 refractor :P Built for Astrophotography and isn't a great instrument to use visually, must be an astrograph ;)

[strongmanmike]

What, an TAK FSQ130....?

EDIT: ah, my bad, I see it now, the bloody Sky Rover in your signature that you have been using for a bit now...daah :nerd: 55mm image circle huh? I get why you wamt the 16803 now ;)

[Atmos]

FSQ 130 would be brilliant!! Maybe after I buy a house... In Canberra you say? ;)
Would love to see the spot sizes on this scope but that's not likely to happen until either Sky Rover decide that they want to show their optical quality or it becomes a more common name and some of the companies around the US and Europe start optical testing.

[TR]

Very nice image. Fantastic stars and colour.
Terry

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Terry :)

[Ryderscope]

A nice journey getting lost in that image Mike. The 50% suggestion with the browser was a good idea too.

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Rod, I think scale of the cluster is more evident when you can see the whole frame in one go on your screen, rather than having to pan :thumbsup:

Mike

[SkyViking]

The mighty Omega surely never gets old, and this is a spectacular image Mike, nice one :)

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Rolf...aaaand did I mention :question: Yaaay! Rolf's back, Rolf's back :party: :D


Sorry...easily excited :whistle:

Mike

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Rolf...aaaand did I mention :question: Yaaay! Rolf is back, Rolf is back :party: :hi:


Sorry...easily excited :whistle:

Mike