Abell 1060 Hydra Teaser

[Placidus]

The fascinating core of Hydra galaxy cluster Abell 1060.

Last night there was cloud everywhere, but the intrepid Mike and Trish, suffering cabin fever, pushed on regardless. We took 15 subs of half an hour each. Two we lost due to losing the guide star behind cloud. One low in the west had fat stars and we tossed it. That left 12 subs, some under sparkling clear sky, as many again through intermittent cloud which reduced light by 50% or more. Surprisingly, seeing was pretty good throughout.

Original image here. (https://photos.smugmug.com/Category/Astrophotography-at-Placidus/i-Nq6NtPZ/0/e99556a3/O/J%20Abell%201060%20Hydra%20Lum%206% 20hrs.jpg)

It was very pleasing to see so many distant spirals showing complex internal details. One or two are showing hints of large halos. We hope to be able to come back to this and try to wring out yet more.

Aspen CG16M on 20" PlaneWave on MI-750 fork. 12x30 min Lum. Processing with our very own GoodLook 64 as usual.

Best,
MnT

[strongmanmike]

A great cluster that, the overlapping galaxies make it very cool and almost unique... well worth the frustration and turmoil guys :thumbsup:

Mike

[RickS]

Some very cool galaxies in that FOV, M&T! Look forward to more progress.

[Bart]

Wow! That is cool. Reminds me of the Hubble deep field! When will we see the colour version? I cant wait to see that disturbed galaxy to the middle right. :eyepop:

[Placidus]

Thanks Mike, Rick, Bart.

One fairly amazing deep colour image of the area is by Bernard Hubl (http://www.astrophoton.com/NGC3312.htm), with 5hrs luminance from Chile using a 20 inch scope.

Another excellent long-exposure colour image is by Ray Johnson (https://www.astrobin.com/289253/), (Shiraz) with 14 hours of luminance + RGB using a 10 inch scope.

Tonight I counted 177 galaxies in our image. This is only the central half a degree or so. Heaps more would be off-screen.

Best,
Mike

[SimmoW]

Wow, just wow.

[Star Catcher]

An impressive view and yes reminiscent of Hubble fields, more than a teaser :)
Ted

[Bart]

WOW! Both are awesome although I like the saturation of Ray's image better. Now, wonder what I can get in a 5 inch refractor? :question:

[marc4darkskies]

Gorgeous M&T! Crisp and deep. Love galaxy fields!

[Placidus]

Thank you Simon!



Cheers, Ted.



Can't wait to do colour. Trish reckons we should do more luminance tonight. We might have to draw straws.



Thanks, Marcus. Very glad you like it. It's a tiny bit like the LMC or the Vela SNR. One could spend a lifetime doing an enormous mosaic.

Best,
Mike

[atalas]

Beautiful deep field guys....looking forward to seeing It finished :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[astroron]

Great image. :thumbsup:
Thanks for posting,I had not observed this galaxy cluster before.
I observed it tonight through the 16"10mm XW Pentax eyepiece 180xmag from my dark site,I was able to view quite a few of the galaxies in your image,but boy are those two bright stars a real PITA.

Putting them out of the field of view helps,but it would be preferable if they weren't there at all. :P

[Paul Haese]

It's getting a bit late now for it. I started imaging it four months ago. I am sure your scope though will make up for that time lapse. The image scale is huge. Much bigger than mine. Looking forward to the colour.

[Placidus]

Thanks Louie!



Delighted that we helped inspire you.



Aye, it is slipping off to the west. We had another go last night, but the air was murky brown, it was 27 degrees outside at 9pm, and the seeing was rotten. We gave up, though we should have been brave as it got cooler and clearer toward dawn. One last go tonight. It is already much cooler than yesterday, but cloud is predicted after midnight.

Best,
MnT

[Peter Ward]

A great result...and hopefully clear skies for the finale' !

[astroron]

Delighted that we helped inspire you.

Always up for something new too me to observe. :thanx:
Cheers:thumbsup:

[Atmos]

There are some really interesting galaxies that field M&T, thoroughly looking forward to a colour version! Hopefully once the weather cools down a bit more :D

[Placidus]

Thanks, Peter. As you've already spotted, we pulled tent pegs after a successful run last night.



:)



Hi, Colin,
It was much cooler last night and we were able to pretty well complete the image. :D