NGC 578 a beautiful galaxy in Cetus

[strongmanmike]

Because I had plenty up my sleeve, I took the week off on leave to hit something over the New Moon :cool:...buuut of course :rolleyes: once I was off, the weather reports had most of the week cloudy didn't they? :doh:....except Monday night :prey:, which turned out to be perfectly clear, steady and transparent with no Moon :prey2: but I fear this will be it for the rest of the week here in the Canberra region....sigh...dreaming of the Atacama

So, armed with a few options, depending on the seeing, which thankfully proved to be quite good on the night :thumbsup: I decided to hit this well placed and beautiful, all be it rather small (4.8' x 3'), spiral galaxy in Cetus, which is rarely imaged by amateurs :shrug:

I was quite pleased with the detail obtained and a cool thing to note, is the distant spiral galaxy seen through the arms of NGC 578, it's the yellow/orange object that appears to be sticking out of the galaxy disc to the left of the core :)

Capture details are under the image and all 7hrs of data, through 5 filters, was collected over the one night (no auto/scripting and manual hand dome pushing) :). I actually managed to grab 7.5hrs of data all up but had to throw a few subs due to bright satellite trails, two of which, (of course :rolleyes:), passed right through the core of the galaxy :mad2:. Happy and contented with a productive night, I definitely enjoyed the Macca's on the way home at 5:30am :driving: :P

NGC 578 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/strongman/50470239027/in/dateposted/) (click on image twice to see the largest file)

To surf the whole full res full frame image go HERE (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/171127883/original)

Cheers

Mike

[Placidus]

Wow that's joyous! :eyepop: A beautiful image of a beautiful galaxy. Lots happening. We like the bold but meaningful saturation - showing the activity in the galaxy.

Lots and lots of happy little creatures in the far distance also.

[jahnpahwa]

Unreal, Mike :) Good job on making the most of the one good night on offer!

[multiweb]

That's a really nice rendition. Conditions have been trying at best lately to get the money shot between clouds and turbulent soup. :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

Nicely done Mike! :thumbsup: A photogenic albeit small spiral. Love the background galaxies visible through the arms.

I'd probably add a bit more colour data though - to minimise colour noise.

I envy you being able to capture an image in one night. I managed to get 6 hours of Luminance on Monday. A couple of brain fart issues wasted some time. :doh: And I still need more Lum before I do RGB. I probably need another 2 nights at least! And the weather reports don't look good for the next week. :rolleyes::sadeyes:

[strongmanmike]

It's the Little Creatures (https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1564/3513/products/Little_Creatures_Pale_Ale_1024x1024 .png?v=1522986788) that taste so good :drink: :lol:



Cheers JP :)



Thanks Marc, will be a little disappointing to only get one night out of over a weeks worth taken off :sadeyes:



It's not hard to do really, certainly shouldn't be with an automated rig either :shrug: although, yes, I have a fast F3.8 rig so that helps. I guess I'm a little less sensitive to colour noise than you too I think? Like all noise, I end up with a balance between making it look artificially denoised which can look worse to my eye, if a little bit of speckle hangs around here and there on close inspection...meah, all good I don't fret too much, I think I look at the overall appearance more :confuse3: :thumbsup: :)

Mike

[alpal]

Hi Mike,
that's a great image -
it's approaching CHART32 which is an amazing result from a Newt.
compared to multi million dollar system at Atacama.

How do you do it?


http://www.chart32.de/images/objects/galaxies/NGC578/NGC578_23LRGB_90.jpg


cheers
Allan

[gregbradley]

That's a ripper Mike. Your dedication shows in the quality of the image.
You go hard brother.

Greg.

[tornado33]

Very nice, and it looks so "original" without excessive noise reduction, so all the detail is well preserved. Lots of small background galaxies too

[Paul Haese]

Nice image Mike, the detail is very nice and I have placed that on my very large list of objects to image. I hope that with the Aluma 694 I have I can have a go at this fairly soon, but it might have to wait until next year.

If you don't use a command programme, how do you focus and how often? the focus looks very good. I have noted that focus on the AG12's I have shifts reasonably over the course of the first 3 hours of imaging. My focus routine focuses every 45 minutes to obtain the sharpest data, but I might be focusing too often.

[strongmanmike]

How do I do it Al?...well, I have lots of fun, some decent equipment, a bit of tenacity aaand..?..beer :drink: :lol: Seriously...thanks mate, you are always encouraging with your feedback, much appreciated :thumbsup:...I'd be happy with a 16" - 20" at Cerro Tololo....yeeeah, nup, that'd do :question: :D



Thanks Mate, I try bro :thumbsup:



Thanks Scotty, yeah I get what you are saying and it is pretty spot on, I often leave a tiny tad of blemish in my images, I tend to prefer that to over corrected/smoothed etc :thumbsup: probably a hangover from the golden years of astrophotography :camera: :)



Thanks Paul :thumbsup:, our scopes are pretty capable (once tuned...and in some cases, worked on extensively by capable friends, or even modified :rolleyes: luckily not in my case :prey:). I focus by simply looking at a focus star up close on the screen and click on the in/out buttons on the Atlas focuser control panel on the screen until the focus star is as small as possible, easy and quick :shrug:..basic but effective. I tend to focus about every 30-60min but this is often me being pedantic to just make sure, or between filters. I find the scope holds focus quite well.

Mike

[Andy01]

Top stuff Mike - the cropped version is very nicely framed and composed. :thumbsup:
Not much more to add to the above comments other than, Bravo! :party2:

[topheart]

Wow!
Awesome capture!!
Boldly saturated, but why not??
Good luck with the weather for the rest of this week!
Cheers,
Tim

[Camelopardalis]

Beautiful Mike :thumbsup:

But gee that's small :eyepop:

(and I did click the link :lol: )

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Andy. Yes, in many cases when you are imaging smaller objects, there is little option (or reason) than to place them in the middle of the field, the sweet spot for most scopes anyway, then rely on cropping to make a composed version that is pleasing to the eye, should you wish :) In this case there were two nice bright stars making a triangle with NGC 578, so I didn't place her directly in the middle this time but off set her a little with the view to being able to make a composed crop :) but the full frame is always worth displaying just so you can surf around and see all the little distant background goodies :D



Thanks Tim, if the colour is there, may as well show it :P...Alas I think I got my one good full clear night for my week off :sadeyes: cloud is predicted until Tues...wheeeen, I am back at work :rolleyes: :doh:



Cheers Dunk, yeah guess?...there are quite a few cool galaxies on offer around the 3 - 5 arc min size, that are worthwhile to shoot but get over looked for the much bigger, brighter and more well known examples. eg NGC 578 covers just 5% of the sky area of NGC 300, so no wonder such comparatively little beasties get over looked. So yes, the smaller galaxy fair are not for the faint hearted and do require decent seeing conditions, preferably darker skies and at least some image scale, to do them justice :thumbsup:

Mike

[Bart]

Very nice, Mike. Not one I've seen before. :thumbsup:

[Ryderscope]

That’s great Mike and I’m glad you managed to find some clear skies during these times of inclement weather :cloudy:

[vlazg]

Yup Mike, what everyone said. :)

[CoolhandJo]

that is excellent

[strongmanmike]

Thanks gentleman :)...she's a wee ripper :thumbsup:

Mike

[ChrisV]

That's spectacular

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Chris :thumbsup:

Mike