Final Centaurus A after 4 months of processing!

[strongmanmike]

Ok I know some of you will be groning right now but please hang in there one more time with me...:prey:

I, like many of you on here, like to share my efforts with everyone, all of whom I regard as friends and like minded people so I hope you will be forgiving of my repeated reprocesses of this piece of work :)

I went right back to the raw 19.5 hrs of data and completely reprocessed it all (yes I am mad :screwy:). I was never quite happy becasue I was struggling to showcase everything in one image.

I wanted to utilise the extensive data set to its full potential to show all of the amazing characteristics of this galaxy and its surrounding region in one image and as best as possible but until now had struggled to do so.

I wanted to showcase all of the following things in one image:

1) The full extent of the faint Galactic Cirrus dust throughout the image
2) The thousands of faint background galaxies
3) The full extent of the dust lane
4) The detail in the dust lane
5) The full extent of the outer galaxy halo (it's huge!)
6) The delicate shell structure in the galaxy halo (rarely discernable)
7) The overwhelming number of stars in the 1.8deg X 1.2deg field.

I wanted to do this in a natural looking full frame image with low noise, a seemless transition from bright core to outer halo and this time I wanted it to look bright because it is very deep but not overexposed, with details still faintly visible even through the very bright inner halo (more realistic).

Well...with such an enormous dynamic range and mass of data it was pretty hard to get all these things into one image but I think I have finally done it..? :sadeyes: You can see "everything" in this version...FINALLY

Full frame small image (2meg):
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/97061387/original

Full frame large image (8.5 meg) have a wander around, there's lots to see:
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/97573250/original

Let me know what you think and I promise!!!! it will be the last...I'm exhausted...:doh:

Mike

[theodog]

Yep, now I'm blown away.
There's structure to be seen in that cirrus as well as the dark matter over the galaxy.
I'd like to put that image on MY pool room wall.
You can give up 5128, it won't hurt, trust me -there are other targets in the sky. Start slowly & you will ween yourself away.
Well done Mike.

[gregbradley]

Fantastic Mike. Your best ever.:thumbsup:

A unique image which is quite an accomplishment.

Where did you take it from?

Greg.

[leon]

Well Mike it certainly was worth the effort, :eyepop: that is a beauty, and would be hard to duplicate, well at least by me. :whistle:

Your efforts have paid off, and we don't really mind if you keep reprocessing the same image, ;) not at all, nice work. :thumbsup:

Leon :thumbsup:

[spearo]

very impressive!
frank

[Striker]

What a awesome Image Mike one of the best I have seen.

4 months off processing I consider this a bit over processed....lol

Great stuff love your work.

[Deeno]

Incredible!

[montewilson]

Well worth the effort - This is a yardstick image. Which is something you use to go around beating others with.


Come up to Wiruna more ya hear? Don't be a stranger! The power system should be a go'er so you can image at the house with all the other astro imaging wierdos.

[Jen]

:eyepop::eyepop: now thats a stunning pic :thumbsup::thumbsup:
All that hard work paid off cheers ;)

[Liz]

WOWOWOW, absolutely beautiful you could stare in and around it for hours, congratulations Mike :2thumbs:

[Matty P]

Definitely worth the effort Mike, it is a stunner. One of the best I have seen. :)

So what is the next object you are going to image?

:thumbsup:

[acropolite]

Fantastic image Mike, the thing that impresses me most is the background galaxies.:thumbsup:

[tornado33]

Yep I can see more detrail in the galactic cirrus now yet the dust lane is still visible, I wonder how many levels of brightness are represented, an enormous dynamic range for sure.
Its now a matter of finding out what otherh galaxies have faint outer haloes or galactic cirrus to image :)
Scott

[AlexN]

Very very brilliant! :)

I say give yourself time to recuperate, then its time to do all again on M104 or NGC253.. :D

Only joking, but seriously.. :)

Thanks for showing us such a magnificent image Mike...

Alex.

Edit : Its almost frightening to think that if there is that many galaxies in a 1.8°x1.2° area.. The size of the universe must be truly incomprehensible...

[seeker372011]

i think i like this version best

[Babalyon 5]

Yes, still a very cool image, but I only counted 999 galaxies!:P:whistle:

[dcalleja]

Its really amazing. I lost count of the number of faint galaxies.

[Hagar]

Lovely image Mike. Time to go get something else.
Focus looks a bit soft (only yoking)

[h0ughy]

yep softnblurry;) Mike - I think you need to go on a holiday - and get some more photons;)

lecture on APOD, astro courses, magazines, what next!!!! Can I get your autograph:D

can I ask how long it took you to process this version?:shrug:

[Tamtarn]

Impressive image Mike, reprocessing to improve an image and get a result like you have makes all the work worthwhile.
Enjoyed being able to peruse different areas on the high res version and the other links on your web site.

[dugnsuz]

Wonderful Image Mike.
Well worth the extra time put into it.
I don't think I've ever seen the extent of the faint galactic cirrus before in a Centaurus A image - you've managed to capture that spectacularly!
Star field is breathtaking too.
An inspiring image.
Doug

[strongmanmike]

:lol:...I have a problem I think Jeff...? :screwy:

I've only taken three images since moving into my new astronomically unfriendly home in March, I'm 100% portable now, I have to make each one count...so go easy on me mate :sadeyes:



I think you have asked this before Gregory :rolleyes:...it is all under the image mate (which you obviosuly didn't read :whistle:) ahh you breezy bustardo :lol:



Ok I have another repro in mind. Leon...:confuse3:...

Yust yoking :P



Well it was an on again off again processing saga Tony, that lack of imaging time forced on me in the end :scared:...I was never really 100% happy with the first attempts (even though it was awarded at the DM's)



Very humbling words Monte! I promise I wont hit anyone with it ;)

Am coming up to Wiruna this weekend as long as the Ilford weather forcast stays at least reasonably favourable...? I will be down at the hall though again becasue I will most likely bring my 16yrold son and maybe the tent (I have a room booked too) - he wants to be near the kitchen and open fire.



Thanks do much Matt, hearing your words makes all the effort worthwhile too!

Next project..?...it's a secret ;)



Wonder the same things myself Scotty

and Ah haaaa you're on to me Scotty ;)



Nup no joke there Alex...he he... ;)

I thought exactly the same thing regarding the number of galaxies in the Universe too, bit like lying on the sand at the beach and taking a handfull of sand and letting the grains run through your fingers and then loooking up and down the beach thinking... more stars than all the grains of sand in the World huh?:eyepop:



Hi Dave

Yep a Wiruna Holiday this weekend maybe big DH ;)

This version took only a couple of hours I guess? I only went back to the calibrated and aligned LRG&B files so it was just a matter of blending various versions that showcased each aspect..well a bit more than that but not too difficult. I needed to have done the initial attempts to realise how to improve on them I guess :shrug:



Thanks so much Barb and Dave and after this version some of the extra versions became obsolete really so I deleted them.



So glad you liked it Doug, very hard to present a new fresh look at such a well imaged (err?..and reprocessed :P) object.

Cheers

Mike

Thanks to everyone else who commented, much appreciated!

MIke

[strongmanmike]

Actually Doug it's not out of focus at all, the very slight blurry look is actually the faint galactic cirrus, it's everywhere, like a smoke haze! - all over the field, including on top of the galaxy :eyepop:...personally I have never seen this in any other image of Cen A...:shrug: and I think I have just about seen'em all? :D

Mike

[Hagar]

Hi Mike I was only pointing out the presence of the (Galactic Cirrus) Not having a go at the image. I think it is wonderful and would love to be able to produce an image half this good.
As for the IR emmission or Galactic cirrus, what ever you want to call it, it is evident probably because of the extreme exposure time of the image and wouldn't be noticable in a smaller stack of these images.
t is what can only be called a very unusual sight in images from amatuer astrophotographers images where the IR band is filtered out.

Not having a go at the image. Yoking = Joking in a big egg shaped galaxy.

[strongmanmike]

NO worries Doug I didn't think you were having a go either, I was just pointing it out cause I hadn't pointed it out before :)

Mike :love:

[knackers]

Hi Mike,

Congratulations on having you image published on "Universe Today" today (mmm, that sounds a bit funny).

Proves all that effort was worth it.

Well Done.

[Ric]

Wonderful work Mike, you've definitely put your heart and soul into this one.

Cheers

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Andrew, came as a surprise to me actually, Tammy toook my image from Macedon Ranges Observatory site and wrote a wonderful expose on Centaurus A, I was honored she used my image to anchor the article.

Mike

[strongmanmike]

You're right there Ric but it's been worth it, the sense of satisfaction I have had from this data set from the marathon in-the-field acquisition to the evolutionary processing :rolleyes:, far exceeds that for any other image I have taken.

Mike