More Wall to Wall stars - central 20 light years of core

[strongmanmike]

After looking at Steve's amazing up close bit of the LMC I got to thinking about other areas of dense stars...what about globular clusters :question:

So...I reprocessed my Omega Centauri image from last year to reveal deep inside a globular cluster, now there's a lot of stars in there for sure :eyepop:

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/109702431/original

click on the image to see the full frame versions if you like?

Here is the central 20 light years (4' X 4') of the clusters core:
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/122348634/original

Mike

[Tom Davis]

Yup, lots of stars for sure.:thumbsup:

Tom

[lacad01]

Stunning work Mike. Pretty mind blowing to think there's millions of stars there :thumbsup:

[sjastro]

Very nice Mike.

Now which way is North?:)

Steven

[strongmanmike]

Yes literally :eyepop:



Errr :question:.....

[strongmanmike]

I actually completely reprocessed the full frame image too..?..nooooo you didn't Mike???? :lol:

3.5meg (full frame & 60% full size) but I recon it may be worth the wait :P

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/109702430/original

Mike

[Jeffkop]

Bout 37 stars more than Steves ... fantastic view that one ... mind boggling to try and determine how they all fit together in 3D ... nope ... not going there, will go work out the Saturdays lotto numbers instead ... MUCH EASIER ... thanks for the look.

[sjastro]

Damn it. I reckon the dark nebulae in my image has cost me about a quarter of a million stars.;)

Steven

[strongmanmike]

Even though mine's a bigger field of view, in reality, there's gotta be more stars in your shot Steve....it's a bluudy galaxy! :eyepop: :lol:

[AlexN]

Starry Eyed I am..

[leon]

I stopped counting after 900,000 stars, :lol: great work and it look fantastic. ;)

Leon :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Leon but I recon you may have missed this one....? :shrug:

Mike

[mill]

That one is just hilarious :rofl::rofl:
And a bloody nice omega centaury to boot :thumbsup:

[Waxing_Gibbous]

Still think this shoulda won!
Mesmeric.

[richardo]

Oh Mike Mike Mike....
you really got to get that new camera, ...
idle hands tend to fiddle..... and they do!

Reminds me of Xmas baubles... :rolleyes:
Mmm, that's how I feel with this image Mike... the up close version really doesn't hold up as the stars look rather soft. Understandable at this magnification..

The wider cropped version looks a lot better to me.... still has the 'oh wow' factor.

But that's me, like to call it as I see it,... like you!:)

Look forward to some new images when the camera arrives.
All the best
Rich

[strongmanmike]

:lol: ah you repro haters, ya gotta get out there and become less conservative man.

The up close and personal version was a just for fun image mate, like when you throw 600X magnification on Saturn just cause you can, sure it looks better at 300X but using 600X is just cool to do :P It was just an illustration of a dense star field you don't see very often in keeping with Steve J's recent LMC close up.

:thumbsup:

Mike

[DavidTrap]

Stunning images as always Mike,

Out of curiosity (and in no way a criticism) - what is the cause of the off centre "halo" around the bright stars towards the edge of the field on the full frame image (especially the bottom right corner)?

Thanks
David T

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Dave :thumbsup:

The small halos are from the cover slip on the CCD back reflecting starlight, they are off centre in the outer areas of the frame as a result of the optical mechanics of the field flattening by the 4" field flattener. You will see this off centre effect in most wide optically corrected fields.

Mike

[strongmanmike]

Zoooooooooooooooooooom it in baby!

Just to go in a bit further where the stars nearly touch

This image is just 4 X 4 arc min square and shows only the very central 20x20 lightyears of Omega's core. The stellar density in the center is nearly 200 stars/ cubic lightyear or about 80000 times as high as in the solar neighbourhood.

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/122348634/original

So in this single data set we can now zoom in from a 1.8deg X 1.8deg FOV right down to a 4 arc min X 4 arc min FOV

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/omega_centauri

he he :P

Mike

[AG Hybrid]

Too...many...stars........head...EX PLODING! :rofl:

Nice job. Someone count how many stars are in the image!

[duncan]

Great shots Michael, I was about to ask "I wonder what is in the centre, Right at the very heart of this glob!!!!!!!!!."
Never Mind,LOL.
Cheers:eyepop::thumbsup:

[marco]

Great image of a great object Mike :) However my preference goes for the larger fov version u have in ur webpage, a bit more "natural". Considering the already impressive gallery u have, it's not the time you get a longer focal lenght telescope? :P

Marco

[strongmanmike]

Ah you sound like Fred Vanderhaven on here :lol: he keeps telling me to get a longer focal length too :rolleyes: but I keep coming back to the fact that 1200mm FL gives me the best of both worlds..aaaand once I have the big PL16803 soon I will have even more pixels to zoom in on :lol: :thumbsup:

More aperture is what I really need to bring down the exposure lengths :question:

Mike

[richardo]

Yes and I hate Xmas and daylight savings as well:P

Rich:lol:

[strongmanmike]

What about ice cream..? :sadeyes:

[richardo]

Not that I buy it when I shop, but when I do, it's gone in a day... that's why I don't buy it... I guess:screwy:

[jase]

Excellent Mike. Though I don't like your crop. Needs 'space' to truly appreciate the scene as you depicted here - http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/122255976

Top work as we've come to expect...don't let your guard down. ;)

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Jase :thumbsup:...but what's with not letting the guard down..? :shrug:

Not every image needs to be presented to be "truly appreciated" sometimes an image can just be of something interesting without having to be perfectly aesthetic..? :rolleyes:

[jase]

Awwww don't say that. You see you're starting to let it drop already. Standards, standards ;)
Just kidding Mike, good to see you delivering stunning work time again. Will be most pleasurable to watch your 16803 arrival. It has to be red carpet material, surely. :D

[strongmanmike]

..?... :tasdevil: :bashcomp: :prey: :lol:




...yeh probably :thumbsup:...Humi may try trumping me though :P

[Octane]

There's no chance, dude.

You've been at it for years -- I'm a DSLR pauper making my way into the brave new wild world. I'm sure the first few attempts will be barf-worthy!

H

[strongmanmike]

I think Jase was refering to my characteristic euphoric photo sequences of new equipment arrivals :lol:

[Octane]

Oh, in that case, sure! There'll be pics-a-plenty!

H