M104 The Sombrero Galaxy - enhanced stellar stream

[strongmanmike]

This was taken over three days, two with good to excellent seeing (FWHM 1.5" - 1.9") one with more mortal seeing (FWHM 2.0" - 2.7")...So I collected 9.5 hrs of luminance, mostly on the two good nights and 3 hrs of colour on the poor night, all the while observing with the 18" Dob under magnificent skies, had a ball! :stargaze:..actually and it was difficult, but we were able to spot the Mag 16.6 spiral galaxy, lower right of M104 in the image, in the 18" Dob...very cool.

Have to say, I'm quite happy with the result and such good conditions makes processing quite a bit easier :)

With the superb conditions on hand, I was keen to go after/reveal, four things

1) the faint dusty extensions at either end of the disc
2) the super faint looping star stream, that's waaaay out in the huuuuge halo, miles from the core of the galaxy
3) to clearly reveal the spiral nature of the two tiny interacting galaxies just below the disc
4) reveal the extent of the massive halo...it almost fills the whole 1/2 deg FOV!
...aaaaand I got'em all! So cheers to that :drink:

The Sombrero Galaxy (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/173750287/original) crop of the full frame

Three cool captures (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/173750113/original) distant interacting spiral galaxies, faint dusty extensions and an outer loop

The full frame full res version (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/173749988/original) see the massive halo! (If on your phone turn your screen brightness up ;)).have a surf around with the screen sliders

Enhanced Stellar Stream and Galaxy Halo (https://pbase.com/image/173762928/original) NB: I needed just a little more space at the top left and a little more exposure, to make the entire orbiting stream (it encircles the entire galaxy!) more obvious, doh!

An enhanced two hour exposure, using the WHT 4.2m telescope at La Palma is attached

See a paper on the stream HERE (https://arxiv.org/pdf/2106.04548.pdf)

Results comparison with Wallaroo (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/173750891/original) definitely worth the move :)...and a bigger scope would be nice :confuse3:

Great times :thumbsup:

Mike

[alpal]

Wow Mike,
that's the best picture you've ever taken. :eyepop:

The comparison to your Wallaroo site shows the gains you've made -
getting as good as 1.5 arc seconds resolution has made a huge difference.
It's the closest you've ever come to a CHART32 picture:
http://www.chart32.de/images/objects/galaxies/M104/m104_VW100.jpg


cheers
Allan

[gregbradley]

That's a stunner Mike. Best 104 I've seen.

Gee, your comparison image from Wallaroo does highlight how important seeing is.

You must be ecstatic with these sorts of results.

Greg.

[marc4darkskies]

A great shot Mike! One of the best I've seen from you! :thumbsup::thumbsup: excellent detail too. Very nicely done!

[Bart]

That crop is something else. I am in awe and cannot help but wonder "is someone looking back at us?"
Amazing stuff, Mike. :eyepop: :thumbsup:

(might sell all my gear now and give up!) :D

[TR]

Nice result Mike. It's a bright sucker isn't it. You revealed the core well. :thumbsup:

Terry

[Startrek]

Mike,
Stunning Sombrero exposing incredible detail around the inner core region rarely seen
One of the best I’ve ever seen
You must be stoked
Martin
( posted from Plymouth, UK )

[AstroJason]

Awesome image Mike, a lot more background galaxies visible in this image compared to your old observatory. Love the detail in that dust lane too!

[lazjen]

Great image - the comparison one is amazing to see the difference.

[TrevorW]

Impressive, well done, Miguel, Michele, Michael whatever :)

[Stephane]

Wow, you’ve knocked the ball out of the park with this one Mike. That is insanely good. I can only dream of getting that level of detail!

[strongmanmike]

Thanks so much for the positive responses, guys, luv ya's all :love:

Allan, regardless of the 32" aperture and supreme quality of their scope, a FWHM of 1.5" seems, so far at least, to be my kinda semi regular practical standard for a good night at Eagleview :question: so, unless I get some lucky nights, as time goes on, I don't think I will get the regular 0.8" that Chart32 enjoys...but I am more than happy, the 1.6" range is pretty regular up here, so I'll take that :D...my site is slightly darker than Cerro Tololo though, so that's a little win :P :thumbsup:

Bart, dont you dare! :mad2:

Trevor, my name is in fact spelt "Michele" (Italian for Michael)*so you nailed it :thumbsup:

Mike

[Geoff45]

Spectacular Mike. If you have a cloudy night perhaps you could try tracking down some of the globular clusters around the galaxy. I am pretty sure your pic will contain at least a 100 of them.
Cheers
Geoff

[alpal]

Hi Mike,
with the El Niño in Australia starting to happen soon it will
give you even better seeing conditions.
As you have the highest observatory in Australia you
might get better than 1 arc second seeing.
Chart32 also has adaptive optics and is a multi million dollar scope.
You would have to go an order of magnitude greater in expense
to take better pics - maybe an RC with adaptive optics?
It's not worth it as sooner or later you'll get 1 arc second seeing
which might continue on good nights for years.
Anyway - you've got to be happy with what you've got now -
the results are amazing.


cheers
Allan

[matlud]

Holy moly Mike that is just fantastic!! Amazing detail on the inner dust rings and capturing the outer stellar stream as well, just awesome. Amazingly well done 👏👏👏

[Andy01]

Adding to the praise of others, it's a good thing you're judging at the Australian Photographic prize this year, because if you weren't and entered this, it would likely be a strong candidate to win! :lol:

Well & truly justifies the big move to your mountain eyrie! :thumbsup:

[Dave882]

Just a seriously amazing image Mike. You've taken full advantage of the conditions and captured something very special. Congratulations!

[markas]

Fantastic image Mike. Amazing depth and detail!
Mark

[strongmanmike]

Thanks so much everyone :thumbsup: so glad it resonates, it's a classic target and one I have imaged only five times over a nearly 40 year period (1984, 2005, 2010, 2014 & 2023), man how imaging has changed in that time! :eyepop:.. been a journey for sure and of course, this is obviously by far my best result :)

Cheers Geoff and a great idea, Rolf Olsen did exactly that (https://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.com/Astrophotography/Galaxies/i-T7vx6nK/A) with his M104. I have gone significantly deeper in steadier conditions, so might give it a shot? :question:

Allan, god I hope you are right re the El Nino! :prey:

Mat, David and Mark, thanks a lot guys, so glad you enjoyed it so much :thumbsup:

Andy...:question:...aaaah, hmmm?, damn, never thought of that :face:..and I certainly wouldn't mind a RedCat?...ok, I resign :lol: :P

Thanks everyone :hi:...and get your entries in to the APP (https://australianphotographicprize.com.au/astrophotography-competition/) :)

Mike

[Ryderscope]

Breathtaking!! :eyepop: I particularly like the identification of the fainter objects to check out such as the dusty outer regions and that "ultra faint star stream loop". Very clever and a great way to evaluate just how good this image is and to use as a benchmark for others :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Oh ya Rod, thanks so much mate, after 40 years of imaging the sky above and the sixth time I have imaged M104 over that time, the progression and improvement in image quality is really quite staggering :eyepop: I wanted to keep that ultra faint outer star stream loop acurately proportional in brightness compared to the rest of the galaxy and that ginormous halo :eyepop:..but I think some may be struggling to see it on various devices..:question: So I think I will post a stretched negative version, juuuust in case there are some who think I am seeing things, ooor a bit "loopy" :lol: :thumbsup:

Mike

[Mickoid]

This is a wonderful rendition of M104, especially from a land based site. Can you imagine how UNREAL it would have looked if you applied some Blur Exterminator! :lol:

[strongmanmike]

Thanks so much Michael, yeah, would definitely love a space based site :P



:lol: ;)..probably should give it a crack some time, from at least a few images I have seen, its use can enhance without being obvious that it was used or impart that slightly fake look, if one uses it judiciously :thumbsup:

Mike

[Retrograde]

Awesome image there Mike - you've brought out so much exquisite detail in those dust lanes :eyepop:
Eagleview is clearly delivering great seeing for you. :thumbsup:

[willik]

What a beauty

[strongmanmike]

Thanks a lot guys :thumbsup: and yes it certainly is Pete, if this El Nino accelerates, as is expected, I am hopeful it may get even better :prey: :thumbsup:

Mike

[strongmanmike]

For those of you struggling to make it out in the natural LRGB version (it has an extremely low surface brightness) that I processed to respect the comparative dynamic range, I have added a less respectful enhanced/stretched version, to better reveal the Malin Stellar Stream (https://pbase.com/image/173762928/original) Interesting that it appears slightly square ended rather than a smooth curve and apart from it being even fainter, I needed just a little more space at the top left to make the entire orbiting stream (it encircles the entire galaxy!) more obvious, doh!

4.2m William Herschel telescope image attached (2 hr exposure in sub arc sec seeing at La Palma)

The maximum brightness at any point of this stream has been measured at 26.7mag/squ arc sec

Detailed paper on it HERE (https://arxiv.org/pdf/2106.04548.pdf)

Mike

[alpal]

You're correct Mike -
it's not IFN - Integrated flux nebula -
there is a picture here of the Malin Stellar Stream but
its flipped horizontally compared to yours.
https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/nyk5wo/we_captured_extremely_deep_wide_fie ld_image_of/


cheers
Allan

[Dave882]

Incredible Mike! That gives a bit more prominence to what is an extraordinarily faint feature. Imagine if you keen imaging for another 40yrs what you’ll be able to accomplish!! :P

[strongmanmike]

Yes, familiar with that image, it doesn't seem to portray the loop as flat/slightly square, like both my data and the WHT 4.2m data clearly does..? So not sure what is going on there?..Perhaps processing choices? (or my eyes? :lol:)

Mike

[strongmanmike]

:lol:...I'll be 96... :sadeyes:

Mike

[strongmanmike]

Hey Al, this is why Chart32 get such incredibly detailed images!..and without AO or BlurEx (they just don't need'em!)

This is a raw Fits sub, ie no decon, no BlurEX no sharpening! FWHM = 0.681 or more than twice as good as Eagleviews best! ..can only imagine :eyepop:

A tile from a presentation (http://www.cedic.at/arc/c13/dwn/CEDIC13_L10_Chart32.pdf) announcing the new telescope and its capabilities

:thumbsup:

Mike

[alpal]

Thanks Mike,
that's a great pdf download.
The picture you have posted of FWHM is from page 21.
A FWHM of 0.681 arc seconds seeing can only dreamed of here in Australia.
I have a feeling that your Image Scale of 0.84"/pix may not allow
you to obtain a correct measurement of FWHM if the seeing
gets below a true 1 arc second FWHM due to the
Nyquist Sampling Theorem.
The only alternative is to use that high quality 3" 2X Barlow
that was offered to you but your images would be 1/4 times fainter.

The presentation raises more questions that it answers:
I don't see any mention of Adaptive Optics -
maybe they don't use that?
Also:
On page 17 they are using something called MLPT tracking which
allows unguided tracking up to 20 minutes -
yet on page 14 they are using a Lodestar at 49mm off axis.
Mere mortals like me use a Lodestar and PHD2 guiding.

So where is a vacuum that Australian and NZ amateur astronomers can fill?
Maybe the pics from Rolf Olsen can guide us?
Extreme deep fields:
https://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.com/Astrophotography/Centaurus-A-Extreme-Deep-Field/


cheers
Allan

[strongmanmike]

No they don't, just great optics, great autoguiding in great seeing = ground based Nirvana :)

Mike

[alpal]

Hi Mike,
I hope other people get to put their telescope systems at your new site.
Imagine a 20” RC there with Adaptive Optics?


cheers
Allan

[strongmanmike]

...imagined :drink: :P

Mike

[alpal]

Or an OFFICINA STELLARE RiFAST 500mm aperture F/3.8 85Kg

Much faster than an RC.

cheers
Allan

[strongmanmike]

:love: :eyepop:.....:sadeyes:

Mike

[alpal]

Hi Mike,

yes - there are some amazing fast scopes available these days
but they cost eye popping prices.


cheers
Allan

[strongmanmike]

I think a bigger scope will need to come courtesy of a rich benefactor...any takers..? :question:...anyone? :shrug: :lol:

Mike

[alpal]

Hi Mike,
actually a Newt is still the biggest bang for the buck.
A 20" Newt would cost nowhere near what some of the
large newer designs cost and also the linear obstruction
would not be 55% but whatever you chose -
which could be 28% and still illuminate a medium size
camera sensor with reasonable spot sizes.
On axis the spot size would be just as good but
the contrast ratio would be even better!
However as the Newts. get larger the mechanical
problems increase exponentially.
Preventing the primary mirror from having
lateral movement is just one challenge of many.

cheers
Allan

[CoolhandJo]

So the detail inside is -- extraordinary.. not to mention the universe you captured around it. And now let's discuss the contrast, colour, and background..... very natural as if i was actually there... :0

[strongmanmike]

Yeah a 20" F3.8 Newt would be just about perfect 👍...and should juuust squeeze into the 3M dome :question: :)

Mike



Thanks so much Paul, a great description and pretty much how I felt too after putting it all together :thumbsup:

Mike

[DaveNZ]

Excellent work Mike. The extra altitude is really paying off. Well worth the effort.

How long are your individual subs up there at f3.8 ?


Cheers Dave

[strongmanmike]

Thanks a lot Dave :thumbsup: I used 5min for all LRGB sub frames on this target.

Mike

[Benjamin]

Amazing to read through the thread and realize what a fantastic accomplishment it all is - the observatory, the image, the sky conditions etc. Just so wonderful to have you pursuing these things to this level.

[Shiraz]

Masterful image Mike. Up there with the very best and great to see the hobby advancing into areas that are usually the preserve of the big professional telescopes.

Well done. Cheers Ray

[kosborn]

YAAI (yet another amazing image :)). I have to admit to be a little bit envious of your astro history, from film, through CCD to CMOS. There's been a revolution in OTAs and mounts in that time too, not to mention the science that backs it all. I really wish I'd started doing this decades ago!

[strongmanmike]

Thanks a lot Ben , Ray and Kevin, your words are very much appreciated. I'm really enjoying the incredible predicament I find myself in and feel very lucky and privileged :) :thumbsup:

Mike