NGC 6769, NGC 6770 and NGC 6771

[marc4darkskies]

A less often imaged but interesting field highlighting the three interacting galaxies in Pavo known as "The Devil's Mask".

See the small labelled version below to see which galaxy is which in the frame, including some of the brighter "faint fuzzies". There are heaps more that are unlabelled.

Seeing was average to poor (2.1 to 2.7 arcsec FWHM) with the best seeing happening on the night that I gathered the RGB. Consequently, I generated a synthetic Lum from the RGB (90 mins) to improve (slightly) the detail and noise profile of the main Lum master (5.5 hours). Total of 11.5 hours integration using 15 min subs.

Full Frame, Full Res (Use Cntrl + and - to zoom in and out in your browser):
http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/164033711/original

Despite the less than optimal seeing and small size of the target(s), I'm happy with it.

Cheers,
Marcus

[strongmanmike]

Good to see you could get another image down Marcus and it's a great target this one too, perhaps my favourite interacting pair in the sky?.. better than the Antennae or Arp271 even. Really needs good seeing to get the best result but this is still pretty good :thumbsup:. A (very) minor query, not sure if it is traces of the decon that I can see (surely not :scared2:) or perhaps what looks like some star elongation or perhaps specific star shrinking work (?) that might have affected the galaxy detail, particularly the lower galaxy, as it looks just a little unnatural and thread like to me..?...or is it just my over sensitive paranoid deconatorizing eyes? :sadeyes:...and I shouldn't have mentioned it :question: (if so...just shoot me)

Regardless, a very nice job :thumbsup:

Mike

[multiweb]

Beautiful shot Marcus. Superbly processed. :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Mike! Alas no excellent seeing conditions for me (for a long while).


Where's my gun and I'll oblige you! :lol: My image compares favourably to the ESO version though nowhere near the same clarity of detail. Accuracy of the detail is compromised by the seeing and, if you're not careful, amplified by sharpening. I was careful. I did wavelet on the galaxies and some gentle star reduction in the field but no obvious artefacts. I.e. No nits on me! :D Stop zooming in to 400% and you won't notice! :P :lol:



Many thanks Marc!

[strongmanmike]

Ha ha ha..fair enough, what ever you say, don't shoot:scared:... oh and you know me, I zoomed out mate! I'll never zoom in...never I say, neeevvveeerrr! :lol:...well perhaps occasionally :question:

Again nice work :thumbsup:

Mike

[marc4darkskies]

No worries, thanks mate. :) By the way, I did go back and soften the bright core of 6769 a bit just then. I had indeed overdone it - to the point that it showed more detail than the ESO version - an impossibility!

[RickS]

Fantastic image, Marcus! Excellent processing and no worms that I can see :) It's a beautiful little grouping that suits your FL well. Shame about the seeing.

Cheers,
Rick.

[strongmanmike]

Ha ha ha sorry to make you second guess yourself :lol:

Just for the record, decon and wavelettes in various combinations can leave very characteristic fingerprints that I..?.. just see :shrug: I can't help it, as I have said before it is like a disease :sadeyes:. Usually I don't see this in your images though, hence my reference to you as the decon king in the past :prey2:...so, this is a first.

In the end it doesn't matter and as I said it's very minor and doesn't stop it from be a great shot :thumbsup:.

Mike

[Atmos]

That is very nice Marcus, the detail you've got is very pleasing! Great area, particularly love the outer halo around the interacting galaxies.

[codemonkey]

Very nice Marcus!

[marc4darkskies]

Much appreciated, thanks Rick! Yes, it might not be a "glamorous" target, but it is pretty and, the science notwithstanding, I reckon galaxy groups have a very high contemplation and awesomeness factor about them! :)



Thanks very much Colin! I pushed the processing as far as I could go given the conditions - as I always do. I was glad to see the halo so clearly.



Thanks a lot Lee!

[Placidus]

Love the intriguing, seemingly three-dimensional dust lane in the top right galaxy of the "mask". It seems to swirl up and over the nucleus, bifurcating as it does so. Devil's forked tongue perhaps. And there are other fragmentary dust lanes immediately to the right of the obvious one. Amazing amount of detail in there. Excellent!

[atalas]

What a great interacting galaxy shot Marcus:thumbsup:shame about the seeing and looks like the stars have suffered for It as well,amongst other minor issues.... but hey"that's the way the cookie crumbles"dude.

Still a great shot in my view and I am noting this paring for future reference as I type so thanks for the intro!

Hopefully you'll return to this with good seeing at some stage.....certainly,It's worth spending the time on.

[marc4darkskies]

Thankyou kindly M&T! Detail is good I think but would have been better if I'd had excellent seeing conditions for the Luminance stack (story of my life lately :sadeyes:). However, decon and synthetic Luminance did help me work some minor magic. Though nowhere near your impressive "deep field" shot, there are plenty of other faint smudges to be admired too.



Many thanks Louie! I don't image enough to go back and re-visit - I'd prefer to move on. Make no mistake, I'm happy with this version even though I moan about conditions. But beggars can't be choosers, right? There are quite a few brighter stars in the field and they were a little larger than I would normally like because of the 15 min subs.

[Stevec35]

Nicely done Marcus. Sorry the seeing hasn't been kind to you.

Cheers

Steve

[gregbradley]

A very interesting galaxy capture and some great detail there despite the conditions.

Greg.

[astronobob]

An astounding field there Marcus, Conditions are rarely super favourable, but, here is a top piece of imaging with circumstances.
Great Job indeed :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

Cheers Steve! Meh ... the seeing is what it is. I shouldn't complain about it so much. Besides, it turned out OK in the end!



Thanks Greg! I'm feeling the urge to go a bit more off piste these days, so stay tuned. Besides, I've got my poor-to-average-seeing processing workflow dialed in now! :lol:



Thanks a lot Bob! Yeah, pretty pleased with the detail achieved for such small objects (NGC 6769's semi major axis is only around 1.7 arcmins!). Truth is, if I waited for perfect conditions I'd never produce an image!

[David Fitz-Henr]

Nice detail and colour there Marcus; an interesting group of smallish galaxies being a reasonable challenge, but at your scale of 0.59 arcsec/pixel you've managed to extract some good detail. :thumbsup:

I didn't see the original image (pre-core softening) but I zoomed in to 400% as per your suggestion and I believe there may be a slight collimation defect in the extreme left top corner ... :rofl:

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks David - much appreciated!

:) And thanks also for zooming in and exposing some imperfect star shapes. As Peter Ward used to say, even Cindy Crawford has a mole. Looking forward to zooming in on your next image! :lol:

[renormalised]

...or did Peter actually say "even Cindy Crawford is a mole" :P :D :P

Great shot, Marcus :D Plenty of faint fuzzies in that one, as well. Need more aperture to get those!! :D

[RobF]

Very nicely done Marc. You really have the RC humming along now. Hope the weather co-operates throughout summer for you.

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks a lot Carl! Either way, a mole is a defect :D



Cheers Rob! But don't talk to me about the weather ... alright? :mad2: Or the seeing! :mad2: ;). I've been having a devil of a time getting respectable data for my current project (NGC 7424). It's a dim one and I think I'm lucky these days to get seeing better than 3 arcsec!!! :help::sad:

[strongmanmike]

Was just thinking Marcus, could your issues be a localised seeing effect? I don't recall you having such a bad run in past years?... you know, something in your equipment, the dome, maybe the new scope is just more sensitive to the seeing?...ooor perhaps you've just placed an A/C compressor just outside the dome or something...? :P

Mike

[marc4darkskies]

Nope - everything's the same - except the sky! I've had some great seeing with the new scope - a year or two ago (see my 253 and my 1365). Just recently I had some very good seeing (just shy of excellent) while gathering some RGB for this image. Just unlucky I guess.

[Shiraz]

top image Marcus. Very nicely processed - to the extent that the processing is not obvious.

yeah, wonder what is going on with the seeing this year? have only had the odd patch of passable FWHM for the last 6 months.