NGC 6744 The Milky Way's Twin!

[strongmanmike]

It's Pavo Galaxy season and this is my (latest) take on the grand old lady :)

Apart from a little periodic and annoying high cloud occasionally, I was fortunate to once again get some excellent conditions over the last New Moon period and managed to collect just over 18 hrs on this majestic southern galaxy and remarkable twin of our own galaxy, The Milky Way

The seeing largely cooperated all of the four nights, with FWHM of raw sub frames ranging between 1.5" to 2.0".

As is customary now for galaxy images, I made three separate master Luminances, using the best data for the details and the whole lot to achieve the depth and then blended them all together, I think it largely works :confuse3:

I was keen to reveal the outer long thread like faint, complex and flocculent arm structures and some of the galactic cirrus in the field.

All capture details are under the image

NGC 6744 The Milky Way's Twin

At Pbase Galleries (https://pbase.com/image/174812471/original) and a close crop (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/174822031/original)

At AstroBin (https://www.astrobin.com/full/smxid2/0/)

At Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/strongman/53934587027/in/dateposted/)

Hope you like it :thumbsup:

Mike

[ua1]

Beautiful image of a tough object. Well done, objectives achieved!

[alpal]

That's excellent Mike,
surely that is APOD worthy?
You've got detail right inside the core too.
The Ha has highlighted the numerous nebulas.


cheers
Allan

[petershah]

another stunning image....beautiful colour balance and detail

[Startrek]

Mike,
Beautiful image of Pavo from your vantage point above the clouds
Star colours are something else, some of the best I’ve ever seen , true colour temperatures
Well done !
Q: how did you calibrate your flats ( flat darks ? ) field is perfectly flat and even !!

Cheers
Martone

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Andrew



Cheers Allan, yeah using only the best data for the details in the galaxy seems to work, if I watch the atmosphere and collect the Lum when the conditions are ripe, I seem to be able to collect enough Luminance data at FWHM's of under 1.8" for most images now, it's great :thumbsup:



Thanks a lot Pete :thumbsup:



Thanks Mr Warhol :thumbsup:

Yeah I guess it's no secret but a mixture of yellow, white and blue are the main colours we should see in stars, with the odd reddish one.

I don't calibrate my flats with flat darks, in fact I don't use dark frames at all, the SX camera is so low noise, I just rely on a three pixel dither guide and median combine, works very well and much less bother.

Mike

[Ryderscope]

Lovely result Mike. Agree that it is a good strategy to be critical of the data the we allow through the review process, particularly with the luminance. Your efforts have paid off here with another fine image :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Dave882]

Stunning Mike just stunning. Perfectly balanced and the core detail is wonderful!

I think I might steal your idea with the luminance and do something similar on my next project. I find it very frustrating when I need to collect 20-30hr for a decent broadband project from the burbs but can only get one or 2 nights during that time with good seeing conditions. This might make a real difference

[strongmanmike]

Thanks a lot Rodney and Dave :thumbsup:

NGC 6744 is actually a low surface brightness galaxy, somewhat flocculent and quite tenuous really, so I tried to reflect that in the final processed version. It looks quite different on phone screens compared to a proper adjusted monitor too.

Mike

[TrevorW]

Excellento :)

[gregbradley]

Great image Mike.

You picked up the faint arms really well. Good colour as well.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Grazie Trevorisimo :thumbsup:



Thanks a lot Greg, its a big galaxy huh? :)

Mike

[cybereye]

As always Mike, fantastic image! (It's been a while but yes, I'm back!)

[strongmanmike]

Aaah yipeee, it's'a Mario! Welcome back Cotter! :hi: and thanks a lot :thumbsup:

Mike

[Leo.G]

Another stunning image Mike!
I think this is the first winter in a lot of years I've not taken a telescope or camera out. I've had other stuff going on in my empty head and somehow it all just seems like worthless junk to me (like everything I own) but hopefully I'll at least get out and get one nice Milky Way stack soon.
I'd never expect my images to look like many of the members here but I'm happy with what I get.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks a lot Leo.

I hope you manage to find some time to get out under the stars, it can be quite cathartic :)

Mike

[alan meehan]

Mike what can i say a stunning image and a great effort you must have enjoyed imaging this one cheers

[strongmanmike]

Hey thanks a lot Al, yeah it was fun, it's a surprisingly faint galaxy with a low surface brightness.

Mike

[E_ri_k]

Bloody excellent Mike, as usual, stunning. I imaged this one a long while back with my RC.

Erik

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Erik, yeah it's actually quite a faint bugger as far as galaxies that are large on the sky go. Funnily enough, I have an almost photographic (pardon the pun) memory for images and I do recall you effort from about 10 years back :thumbsup:

Mike

[E_ri_k]

You have a good memory Mike, I’d say you’d be on the money with 10 years too!

[strongmanmike]

I am good with dates and events too...sadly, even with a wanna be operatic voice, I do however struggle to remember words to songs, especially when they are usually Italian :(...:question:..of course they are easier to make up a bit, because few actually understand what I am singing and are generally hoodwinked, as long as the tune and pitch are ok :lol:

Mike

[E_ri_k]

If you can improvise and nail it, you're wining :lol:

[Retrograde]

Very cool rendition Mike. Colours are superb. :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Thanks a lot Pete :thumbsup:

Mike

[barwellp]

Great job, amazing image.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Peter :thumbsup:

Mike

[AlexN]

That's a tough target to do well mate... Fantastic work!

[strongmanmike]

Hey thanks a lot, it just got me my first AstroBin IOTD too, cool :)

Mike

[AlexN]

I saw that! Impressive indeed... I got a couple of top pick nominations recently, and a top pick, but still waiting on that elusive IOTD...

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Alex, your work is pretty good, just a matter of time I'm sure. I think the many AB eyes a submitted image goes past in the evaluation sequence are pretty picky on processing perfection, and what I call the new "look" these filters impart, particularly that which is achievable with the latest suite of processing filters and plug-ins. Soooo :whistle: to be honest, I can be a little self-forgiving in this department, preferring to prioritise the subject matter over itty bitty pixel peeping perfection (ie. ok, yeah lazy sometimes..:P)

Mike

[AlexN]

I still have that awesome deuteranopia colourblindness to contest with, and I tell you what - the AB judges do not like monochrome images...

I tend to agree regarding posting totally noiseless images, and cookie-cutter processes that make most images look the same... I'm torn between technological obsession, and oldchool processing... Having come from my last serious imaging happening in 2010 and my most recent little spat of images being 2015, I will attest that things have certainly changed as far as what a 'good' image is considered to be.