Arp 245 again

[sjastro]

I had another shot at this faint interacting galaxy pair to bring out the effects of the tidal forces.

A total of 8 hrs exposure which is extremely long by my standards.:)

http://users.westconnect.com.au/~sjastro/arp245c.html (http://users.westconnect.com.au/%7Esjastro/arp245c.html)
(90% resolution).

Clear skies

Steven
http://users.westconnect.com.au/~sjastro/small (http://users.westconnect.com.au/%7Esjastro/small)

[iceman]

Wow that's a really nice image, Steven. Very interesting and well presented.

[strongmanmike]

Amazing pair that nice work.

Hey, I tought you weren't into long exposures Steve :shrug:

Ah see?.. 8hrs today...16hrs tomorrow, soon you'll be in the 36hr club, it's inevitable I'm sorry .... soooo then you can enter the DM awards! :whistle:

[gregbradley]

Great image Steven.

I'd love to hear a review of your BRC 250.

How do you like it?

Greg.

[skeltz]

Looks great steve,nicely composed image!

[spearo]

excellent!

frank

[sjastro]

Thanks for your comments Frank.



Thanks Rob.



Thanks Greg. Nice optics. The helical focuser is a pain to use. The most frustrating aspect is Takahashi not supplying spacers to provide the correct backfocus distance.

I will write a review on the BRC-250 time permitting.




Mike,

8 hrs exposure only to see the damn thing. To process and bring it up to a standard for submission would require about at least another 40 hrs.;)



Thanks for your comments Mike.

Clear skies to all.

Steven

[ngcles]

Hi Steven,

Congratulations -- excellent image. Love to see Arp galaxies in the ep and imaged.

Well done on taking up the challenge and doing obscure/faint/difficult/unusual!!:thumbsup:

Best,

Les D
Contributing Editor
AS&T

[Robert_T]

Looks fabulous... this is one of the few inter-galactic views I've seen that communicates a feeling of movement... like two huge wrestlers grappling in space:P

[gregbradley]

Hi Steven,

Is that just a matter of getting Precise Parts to make something up?

I would attach an STL or Apogee U16M to one.

Greg.

[Ric]

Very nice indeed Steven, a fine interacting pair.

ARP galaxies are always a favourite to view.

Cheers

[sjastro]

There a favourite of mine as well... and challenging.



I eventually got the spacer from Precise Parts. It was frustrating not being able to use the BRC straight out of the box.



Thanks Robert.



I appreciate your comments Les.

Regards to all.

Steven

[Alchemy]

very well presented image, have had a look at your website in the past and you have done some lovely and varied work. Theres a huge number of galaxies there, ive never gone more than 3 hrs must have a crack at going longer just to see how much difference it makes. Always enjoy a look at your work:thumbsup:

no-one else seems to have asked so i will- why the extra diffraction spike ? (the softer vertical one)

cheers clive

[theodog]

Very nice Arp:thumbsup:.

[sjastro]

Thanks Jeff.



The ST-10XME has a microlens over each individual pixel designed to increase quantum efficiency. For scopes with f-ratios less than 7 (such as the BRC-250), this can show up as an extra vertical spike. SBIG has software that can remove the spike but it doesn't bother me.

Clear skies

Steven

[renormalised]

Steve, you want to avail yourself on purchasing the "Catalogue of Peculiar Galaxies" by Arp. Two volumes in size...costs $350, so you may have to save up for it. But you can use it to chase the galaxies down.

[sjastro]

Thanks for that but I have my own free copy of "The Arp Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies" as being one of the contributors to the book.

Interestingly all the contributors have a biography and a picture of themselves in the book except for yours truly.

The US publishers refused to accept my picture or the original biography:sadeyes:. It wasn't an obscene picture and I certainly don't consider myself hideous enough to affect sales of the book.:) They rewrote the biography by adding facts they obtained off the Internet.

I wasn't terribly impressed.

Regards

Steven

[jase]

Great work Steven. Thanks for sharing this non-mainstream target. Sounds like a good challenge for some ultra long focal lengths. Well done.

[renormalised]

Why wouldn't they accept your picture or bio??!!! Sounds a bit crazy to me. And, what "facts" could they obtain off the internet?? Better getting the low down straight from the source than rely on hearsay.

[sjastro]

Looking at the pictures of the other contributors they do convey an aura of professionalism in contrast with me in torn jeans and Akruba hat.:whistle:

Fortunately their extra facts proved accurate. For example they mentioned an image of mine that was published by the Vatican Observatory. I didn't include that in the original biography.



Thanks Jase.

[iceman]

Gee you must be really ugly, Steven ;)

[sjastro]

I must be. The Vatican Observatory were prepared to offer a free exorcism.:P

[Tamtarn]

Fantastic image of a difficult subject :thumbsup: