Sharpless 63, The Ghost of Barnard

[strongmanmike]

Something a little different :)

A couple of great moonless nights helped capture this faint rarely imaged field...in fact I am not sure this pair have been framed together before in a single image?.. at least I couldn't find an example...

In the top right of the image and located in Sagittarius, Barnards Galaxy or NGC 6822, is a barred irregular galaxy about 1.6 Million light years away. It is part of our local group of galaxies and relatively small at just 7000 light years diameter. It has prominent HII and OIII emission nebulae and although often not revealed in images of this galaxy, NGC 6822 also sits behind an extensive foreground field of very faint molecular and Milky Way cirrus dust. The strange ghostly feature lower left in this image is Sharpless 63 and is part of the extensive molecular cloud MBM 159.

6hrs of Luminance was probably the minimum to do the very faint tenuous features in the field justice under my rural-suburban transition skies...but the addition of the Ha to the red and the OIII to the green and blue, accentuated the emission nebulae in the little galaxy nicely :thumbsup: Other images of Sh63 show it more brown red but my data seemed to lean towards a greyish-red-blue, more like the faint cirrus near Cen A (https://www.flickr.com/photos/strongman/47993621463/in/dateposted-public/)

The Ghost of Barnard (https://www.flickr.com/photos/strongman/48502927066/in/dateposted-public/) (click on image and use your cursor to pan around)

Scroll around a big one HERE (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/169615731/original)

Hope you find this pairing unique and intriguing :)

Mike

[Placidus]

That is the finest, most convincing example of galactic cirrus that comes to mind. The cirrus looks like real terrestrial mare's-tail cirrus, the way it's arranged in clearly demarcated parallel streaks.

Barnard's Ghost is new to us. Beautifully shown.

Trish: Looks just like a cat-head thorn. Hence a very dangerous ghost.

The star colours, sharpness of the image, general processing are of course excellent. Well conceived and well carried out.

[JA]

It's a lovely image in lovely skies.
It's like a big "P" written in the heavens.
Well done Mike:thumbsup:

Best
JA

[codemonkey]

That's sensational, Mike! Love it.

[gregbradley]

A brilliant image. Love it.

Is that Barnards dwarf galaxy up near the top of the image?

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks a lot guys. yes a cats thorn, true. You should shoot Barnards Ghost through the 20" I think you should have just enough FOV..?



Yes, could have called it God's Pee :P



Glad to hear Lee :thumbsup:



Ooooh..Kaaay...soooo, Greggles baby...you are either, takin tha piss :question: :lol:...or :sadeyes:....even aaaafter driving out and back to my observatory umpteen times, operating almost unprotected in Canberra's minus temperatures, with only beer, coffee..and whisky, to keep me warm :cold:, babysitting, crawling around and underneath my rig all night while turning my dome by hand :eyepop: collecting 12hours of data, then after driving home tired each night at 40km/hr early in the morning, because of thick fog and kangaroos all over the roads :driving: ...then taking days off work to sleep in, then several hours of processing until the wee hours of the morning :computer::zzz2: :bashcomp: :scared:......you didn't read my post or what is written under the image :shrug: :sad: :rolleyes:, choosing instead, to just ignore my post, go straight to the link and skim look at the image, then proceed to ask a question that is answered in both the original post aaaand under the image..:question: :sadeyes:....

:rofl:

Try again mate ;) :lol:
Ps. For anyone who has not read the full post again...aaand not in tune with the humour there, all that was of course said in complete jest..err? hence all the emoticons :D :thumbsup:

[Atmos]

Its really nice Mike but what is it? :lol:

[strongmanmike]

What's what..?.....the link I clicked on took me to an over 40's dating site...:question:

[Atmos]

I agree with your observations on dust colour too. There is the darker redder dusty regions and then there is the bluer stuff like various ghost nebulas and the cirrus stuff in both of the images you've posted.

I'm attaching another random part of the sky that shows the same thing. It doesn't contain the same dusty regions like in the LDN catalog but more like the cirrus stuff and it is EVERYWHERE in the images I'm currently working on. It is in every single patch of sky within 20º of the Milky Way in every direction.

[multiweb]

Really nice fov. I've never seen that galaxy in context in a wider field. That's a very cool framing. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Ryderscope]

A lovely counterpoint between the various elements of the image Mike. With the cirrus dust, hot blue stars, scattering of red giants across the image, ghostly dust formations and a very eclectic galaxy to boot. Strange also that a galaxy would present much in the way of OIII. I'm not surprised that additional time was required for the luminance sufficient to do justice to the waves of dust. :thumbsup:

[troypiggo]

Awesome framing and nice dust processing. Classic strongman image.

[Geoff45]

Gobsmacking image Mike. That field of view is HUGE.

[strongmanmike]

Yes that bit you have posted was the subject of my last image actually, Sh2-1/Vdb99 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/strongman/48204948767/in/dateposted-public/) is a beautiful area of Scorpio. I think it contains much more and finer (?) dust (or at least dust of the right micron size) to better scatter the blue wavelengths, while some of the stuff around Barnards galaxy and particularly Cen A, is higher above the galactic plain and much more tenuous and thus fainter. There is traces of emission from the mixed in Ha though, hence the slight reddening and explains the more recently coined term Integrated Flux Nebula or IFN, rather than Galactic Cirrus.



Thanks Marc



Thanks for the considered feedback Rod :) In regards to the OIII, a few galaxies will show OIII but rarely do imagers bother collecting it, apart from Barnards Galaxy, NGC 300 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/strongman/29950856736/in/dateposted-public/) is a good example as, of course, is the LMC (https://www.flickr.com/photos/strongman/38559917201/in/dateposted-public/), M33 also springs to mind.



Thanks Troy



Glad you enjoyed the view Geoff :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Ooooh..Kaaay...soooo, Greggles baby...you are either, takin tha piss :question: :lol:...or :sadeyes:....even aaaafter driving out and back to my observatory umpteen times, operating almost unprotected in Canberra's minus temperatures, with only beer, coffee..and whisky, to keep me warm :cold:, babysitting, crawling around and underneath my rig all night while turning my dome by hand :eyepop: collecting 12hours of data, then after driving home tired each night at 40km/hr early in the morning, because of thick fog and kangaroos all over the roads :driving: ...then taking days off work to sleep in, then several hours of processing until the wee hours of the morning :computer::zzz2: :bashcomp: :scared:......you didn't read my post or what is written under the image :shrug: :sad: :rolleyes:, choosing instead, to just ignore my post, go straight to the link and skim look at the image, then proceed to ask a question that is answered in both the original post aaaand under the image..:question: :sadeyes:....

:rofl:

Try again mate ;) :lol:
Ps. For anyone who has not read the full post again...aaand not in tune with the humour there, all that was of course said in complete jest..err? hence all the emoticons :D :thumbsup:[/QUOTE]

Oops guilty! Yes I see it now. Man you go hard to get these images.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

:lol: oh well, it's all part of the attraction I guess? :D....:question:.....:sadeyes:.... :scared:

BTW, been looking at land around Bigga :D

Mike

[SimmoW]

Superb Mike, fascinating and beautiful. Good description too

[Retrograde]

That's very cool Mike. Great composition!

[Atmos]

I didn’t even recognise your last image was the same area, my 25 minutes of data doesn’t have quite the same impact as yours ;)

You make good points in the differences between dust micron sizes :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Simon and Pete, I resisted the framing at first, as rotating the camera meant doing a whole new set of flats for 7 filters :rolleyes:...buuut glad I did :)



Look forward to seeing your completed Mellinger/Risinger-esque work Colin :D

[Decimus]

:eyepop: Stunning, ethereal beauty and totally different from anything I have seen on IIS, Mike. Congrats on this superb piece of imaging!
Cheers,
Richard

[strongmanmike]

Wow, that's extremely nice to hear Richard :) I hoped it would be a bit different and intriguing, there are some very interesting objects and features up there to image if you look for them :thumbsup:

Mike

[Andy01]

That's a really strong image :thumbsup:
Reminiscent of tidal flats with alluvial deposits on the sand, dotted with the odd washed up flotsam of an oyster and a jellyfish.
Interesting how we all see different stuff in these images. :D
Masterful work, completely original - very well framed & composed, sharp as a tack and a joy to behold, that's a GOLD award from me!
(sorry, been judging professional images for the past three days :lol:)

[strongmanmike]

Ha!..yeah, I totally see your scene...in fact can't unsee it now :lol:

Thanks for the kind words, glad you enjoyed the view :thumbsup:

Mike

[willik]

There are a lot of ghosts up there that looks cool mike ;)
Martin

[topheart]

Hi Mike,
Congratulations on another landmark image!

Stunning!

I love the originality of this capture and framing.
All that kangaroo dodging was worth it!

:rover2:

Cheers,
Tim

[strongmanmike]

Yes Martin, seems plenty of features in the sky can look a little ghostly :scared: :lol:



Cheers Tim, yeah I recon it was too :)

Mike
ps..not looong nooow :2thumbs:

[RobF]

No wonder we can never get decent images from Sol. Its all that miky way dust wandering around that needs cleaning up :)

[RobF]

Thought provoking image Mike, and love swimming around in the big field.

Interesting to hear of the trials and tribulations collecting the data in the middle of winter too - well done on both counts! :thumbsup:

[rustigsmed]

and WHOA!! haven't been around the traps for a while and check in to see this cracking image on IIS. awesome work Mike - i really think this is one of your best. framing, uniqueness (hard these days!), and appears super deep. great job!!

Rusty

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Rob, I still have the fire, at least I don't have to set everything up anymore :)



Thanks a lot Russell and welcome back :hi:

Mike

[LewisM]

I'm disappointed in the image Mike - WHERE'S THE JET????????? :lol:

You are a braver - or thicker - (actually...hmmmm :) ) man than me Gungha Din. Soon as the Sun goes down lately I am curled up with the missus on the couch. Whipped I tell ya.

[strongmanmike]

Oh thereeee'll be one in there somewhere....:astron:



Is that whipped or..?.. Wimp?:question:

Mike

[LewisM]

I was going to say interpolated and extrapolated colour noise but I thought better of it :lol:

[strongmanmike]

Ha ha...go back to gazing in that pond ;)

[peter_4059]

Love the flickr view Mike. Inspiring.

[strongmanmike]

Great to hear Pete :thumbsup:

Mike

[Paul Haese]

An expansive field and just missing capturing an object I got independent co-discovery of a few years back (named PA161) It is located in the top almost 45 degees from Barnard's galaxy and just out of your field of view. It is a planetary nebula of considerable size (nearly as large as Barnards Galaxy in angular terms). Might be worth doing a mosaic panel just above.

As to the image, great colour and detail. Nicely done Mike. Love the layers in the thick dust cloud. The amount of IFN in the field is incredible.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Paul, it's a area of crazy swaths of faint dust, the giant P shaped piece was just too cool to not adjust the rig for in order to frame it with Barnards Galaxy. I almost didn't bother with the rig adjustment and was going to plonk the giant P more centrally in the frame...glad I didn't, I think this may be a unique framing even?...:question:

If I had framed The galaxy in the centre sounds like I might have caught that PA161..?

Mike

[Paul Haese]

The framing is good, I did something similar when I imaged NGC6822 with the FSQ, albeit I did not have the same orientation or even know that P shaped piece even existed. Mind you I would have done a multi mosaic to capture what you have got here.

Yes if you had centered the galaxy you would have captured PA161, but only in OIII. When you mentioned you had taken OIII I immediately started looking to see if you had captured it. I did a quick plate solve and found it was just off your field of view to the top. It is slightly visible in Ha too but highly visible in OIII. It can't be seen in LRGB at all. It might appear brighter at your scale though with the concentration of photons to each pixel.