The Bubble Galaxy

[DiscoDuck]

My final bit of processing from a recent dark sky visit.

The Bubble Galaxy NGC 3521. Kinda cool that the shell is apparently the remnants of cannibalised satellite galaxies :)

About 9 hours of luminance and 4.5 RGB. RC8 and ASI1600MM-C on a Mach1.

Full res on Astrobin (http://www.astrobin.com/400632/F).

Comments/suggestions welcome.

Edit: Oh, and it must be pointed out that it's a flocculent spiral. Great word!!

[Andy01]

Cool target, looks good, would you consider rotating the image 90 degrees anti-clockwise? :thumbsup:

[DiscoDuck]

Thanks Andy.

Rotation? Hmm. That might explain why I had a sore neck from twisting too much while processing it :)

[strongmanmike]

Well Flocc me...that is flocculent Paul, nice job :thumbsup:

It's a cool looking galaxy, there is a faint extended halo with faint shells, if you go really deep.

Mike

[DiscoDuck]

Thanks Mike. Nice to know - but I may need more patience to go much deeper! :)

[Geoff45]

Superb picture Paul. No patience needed to go deeper. The good thing about digital is you can do a couple of hours next year, and the next year, and...
A good picture can always be added to at leisure.

[multiweb]

:eyepop: Terrific shot. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[DiscoDuck]

Aah. A good point Geoff.



Thanks Marc.

[Placidus]

Totally awesome! We're very jealous. Didn't know about this one. Can't wait till next year to have a good crack at it.

Beautifully acquired and processed.

MnT

[Atmos]

Very good detail Paul :thumbsup:

[DiscoDuck]

Thanks Mike and Trish. Yeah, saw some images of this on Astrobin and was motivated to have a go.



Thanks Colin.

[gregbradley]

That's a stunning image. Well done.

Greg.

[beren]

:thumbsup: Great image, love the detail captured

[DiscoDuck]

Thanks Greg.






Thank you!

[alpal]

A great image Paul.
I would have been tempted to do some more processing on the galaxy:
some local contrast & then a colour boost.


cheers
Allan

[DiscoDuck]

Thanks Allan. I'll have a play and see what I can do. Much appreciated.

[codemonkey]

Nice one Paul! Love this galaxy. I've been eyeing it off myself, but imaging that far to the north is a bit awkward for me due to a large tree on a neighbouring property behind the observatory. I could probably get 1.5-2hrs on it a night, so maybe I'll give it a shot at some point.

Looks like you've you've got some nice sharp data there. I suspect with 13.8hrs of data on this one you might have gotten away with less noise reduction, which might help bring out the details a bit better.

I'd also be inclined to rotate it 90 degrees anti-clockwise as Andy suggested.

[DiscoDuck]

Thanks Lee. I might try a repro - not least because I'm busy going through my recently arrived new copy of the second edition of Warren Keller's PI book!

[alpal]

Hi Paul,
I could have a go if you want me to but
I think you've already over processed the background -
it looks like it's been blurred slightly to reduce noise?
That blur might have got into the galaxy as well unless you masked it?


cheers
Allan

[DiscoDuck]

The galaxy was masked out during the main noise reduction. As I said, I'll probably reprocess anyway as I want to try a few new tricks. Thanks though. :)

[alpal]

No worries Paul.
I like to see the noise in the background.
Even NASA pictures from Hubble show the noise.


cheers
Allan

[Paul Haese]

I really like the detail and resolution here. The colour is also good but the back ground looks patchy to me Paul. One really good thing is I can see what looks like a tidal stream from the edge of the galaxy. Greater integration next year might just bring that stream out further.

[Retrograde]

Wow that's a cracker. Excellent work.

[DiscoDuck]

Thanks Paul. Yeah, not sure re background. Perhaps a bit too much noise reduction, as has been observed above. You mean the black star background or the cloudy background of gas/stars around the galaxy? Or both?






Thanks Pete.

[Stevec35]

Quality image that! The background looks slightly patchy but other than that it's a definite keeper.

Cheers

Steve

[DiscoDuck]

Thanks Steve.

[Bart]

Another cracker, Paul! Top stuff!

[DiscoDuck]

Thanks Bart.