Ready, willing and Abell 1060

[EddieT]

Sorry about the subject :)

This is a longer-term project I wanted to try before Hydra sets too far. This was pushing the little 6" scope beyond its limits with a 4x Powermate to f24 (3600mm).

Covering about 14x10 arcminutes, this is part of the Abell 1060 group in Hydra centered on the galaxy NGC3312. There are a dozen or more galaxies visible in the field and several very bright ones. Well bright compared to the dim ones anyway. This image was taken over 5 nights and totals almost 14 hours of exposures. Perhaps the limit for a 6" telescope under the Gold Coast skies!

All the best,

[iceman]

Beautiful shot Eddie, although it could really use some diffraction spikes :)

I like the faint galaxy that looks like Centaurus A, to the right of the middle, down the bottom of your image.

[ving]

man, I love galaxy shots :)
thanks eddie :)

[EddieT]

Thanks Mike,
It does have diffraction spikes ! These had me flumoxed for a little while but I've determined that they are caused by the three clips that hols the corrector in. They only protrude 1mm into the corrector, but it's enough to cause the spikes to appear after about 5 hours :)

There are lots of great galaxies in this field. The one you mention is NGC3316 a Mag 14.1 spiral. In the top-right corner is NGC3314. this one is amazing because it is actually two galaxies. There is a distinct foreground face-on spiral in front of a more distant edge-on spiral. They appear as one galaxy with an ejection, sort of like M82.

[EddieT]

Thanks David,
I love them too. Images like this are hard work but worth the effort.

[atalas]

Seen your shots on the Yahoo site Eddie,great shots as always!


Louie :2thumbs:

[[1ponders]]

Brilliant Eddie. :bowdown: How did you capture and process the image? These are the sort of skills I really want to learn. Maybe you could run a SE-QLD astrofest like the Kiwis have just done. :D (hint hint ;) )

[EddieT]

Thanks Louie and Paul!


Whew Paul...That question could be answered in 2000 pages or more. What's the line limit of the Quick Reply window :)

Ok in a nutshell,

1) Planning. Knowing the object size, how it will frame with your camera and the guidestar selection which will may involve camera reorientation. This is really important. I pre-plan all of my images and know which guidestar I will use and the framing of the object well before I approach the scope.

2) Be in it for the long haul. Many people like to image as many objects as possible in one night. I like to image as much of one object as needed to get a good image of it. This may take weeks!

3) Once all is planned, it is repeatable. With an image like this, with target objects scattered all over the field, repeatable positioning is very important from night-to-night.

4) I accumulate the nights images and do a rough process of them to see if the signal-to-noise ratio is high enough to stop. If not, I will do another night on the same object.

5) Repeat the last step until done.

P.S. Many details have been omitted to protect the disinterested :)



I'd love to do something like that in the future. Ron Wodaski does imaging camps in the states and they are very popular.

[ballaratdragons]

:eyepop: Wow!!!!

That's all I can say is WOW!

Reminds me of my favourite Astro poster with hundreds of Galaxies in it.

[[1ponders]]

Thanks Eddie, I'll keep my eyes and ears peeled for anything happening in that direction. Just make sure you let me know well in advance so I can build up cudos in advance at home. :D

[EddieT]

Thanks Ken! Wow is good :)

And thanks Paul. I will give plenty of advance notice if and when this happens. I wouldn't do something like that without having some firm committment of numbers beforehand.

But I think there would be some interest out there in a hands-on course for intermediate to advanced imaging for amateurs.

[[1ponders]]

I'm sure there would Eddie. But if I'm coming does that mean intermediate as in words of no more than two silarbles.:P

Cheers

[EddieT]

Yeah for sure :) I'm thinking of more of a hands-on thing with minimal theory and maximum pratical.

[seeker372011]

love your images-and the results are well worth the effort you seem to be putting into the capture.

Thanks for posting..you do the hard work and we get to enjoy!

[[1ponders]]

WooHoo...I'm there :2thumbs:

[h0ughy]

Eddie I am sure you have an uplink to the hubble, great shot, and you patience and processing skills are amazing.

[gaa_ian]

Awesome shot Eddie
I think we shall call it ... "Eddie's Deep Field"
Imagine what you could do with a few weeks on the Antarctic Plateau !

[tornado33]

I think 14 hours is a tad longer than I could hand guide hehehehehehe.
Very nice image.
Scott

[EddieT]

Thanks Houghy, Scott, Ian and Seeker,


Ian, You mean apart from my body and camera operating at the same temperature ? :)

[dhumpie]

Eddie you are a astrophoto god! I agree with Houghy. That almost looks like Hubbles deep field ;) Keep the superb shots coming!!!!!!!!

Darren

p/s: can we make special request for you to image some DSO's?????

[EddieT]

Thanks Darren!



Yes sure! But I can't guarantee a delivery time :)

[cahullian]

Great shot eddie is it ok if I set it as my background??

Irish

[EddieT]

Thanks Irish.


I'd be more than happy for you to !