Deep image Cent A and Omega C & galactic cirrus

[gregbradley]

I also took this one back at New Years at my dark site observatory. Beautiful clear skies and good seeing.

This is a deep image of the Omega Centauri and Centaurus A area showing galactic cirrus and the true extent of Centaurus A.

Not a pretty picture (Omega C core burnt out) but it does reveal the extremely faint cirrus.

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/133259380 inverted

FSQ106ED and reducer giving F3.64 and Proline 16803.

Greg.

[Dennis]

Hi Greg

Wow – I’ve never seen anything like that before! Thanks for providing such a very different view of this extremely popular region. The detail in the inverted image is truly astonishing – so much stuff to look at.

Cheers

Dennis

[strongmanmike]

I'd ditch the colour version, the negative is far more revealing and aesthetic to look at, excellent field all too rarely looked at this deeply :thumbsup:

Mike

[gregbradley]

Thanks Dennis. There is a lot going on around there that is not normally seen. Dark skies,good seeing, a sensitive CCD and F3.64 help.



Yeah I agree. I tried several times to make the colour one a pleasing image and it seemed to be either a usual star field with little depth or like it is with the colour one with detail but a bit ugly. Perhaps there is a way with Pixinsight to dig out that detail without the distortion of colour.
There is a tutorial on Rogelio Andrea's site about digging out integrated flux.

Greg.

[John Hothersall]

Now that is great science on display and that is so fast for the FSQ, pity M81/82 IFN is out of reach as that would be a great target.

There must be other targets you have lined up for the fast FSQ treatment - can't wait.

John.

[avandonk]

Does this one help? I need darker skies.

http://d1355990.i49.quadrahosting.com.au/2011_03/O&C.jpg

Bert

[gregbradley]

Thanks John. I wonder what other southern targets would show up the cirrus?



Nice colour shot Bert. Yes the dark skies are everything with this sort of shot.

[RobF]

Great going' Greg. Impressive stuff. I was clueless about the galactic cirrus until reading Malin's "Colours of the Galaxies" recently. Mind blowing really to be able to image it.

[alexch]

The negative version is superb, Greg! Thanks for showing something new.

Cheers,
Alex

[strongmanmike]

Agreed, that book was mind blowing in the 80's I could never have imagined that going as deep as David was able to go using the UK Schmidt would be possible with amateur equipment, don't you love progress? :thumbsup:

I am lucky enough to have a signed copy of "Colours of the Stars" David signed it back in 1986 and took a couple of my cold camera negs and hit'em with his then revolutionary techniques of unsharpmask and amplification (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/110764273/original), it was indeed a great honour...like an international rock star taking a CD of your suburban bands recording and actually listening to it :)

Mike

[RobF]

Yeah, we're sure spoiled nowadays Mike - as you'd know with the length of time you've been at it. Still, it really is gobsmacking (and damned fun!) to be able to get images that are comparable to the UK Schmidt and AAO with thousands of dollars of gear (not a million).

Is "Colour of the Stars" the original book? Does it offer much over "Colours of the Galaxies" do you know? (I stumbled across mine in a 2nd handbook stores at XMAS).

(sorry for rambling in your thread Greg.....:thanx:)

[gregbradley]

Thanks Rob. I'll have to get a copy of that book.



Thanks Alex. My dark site has some stunning skies sometimes so its good to take advantage of them.

[Hagar]

Nice Greg. Certainly lots of hazy stuff in this image. The invert can show up even the faintest haze in an image.

Nice.

[Stevec35]

Good stuff Greg. I picked up some of this cirrus in a Epsilon 180 image taken several years back. NGC 6752 is also a good area. Here are the URLs if you are interested in taking a look.:

http://members.pcug.org.au/~stevec/NGC5139_STL11K_E180.htm

http://members.pcug.org.au/~stevec/ngc6752_STL11K_E180.htm

Cheers

Steve

[gregbradley]

Thanks Dougie. Yes it sure does.



Thanks Steve. Yes I remember when you were imaging with the 180E.
Nice images.

Greg.

[marco]

Very interesting Greg, I recorded too some of these cirrus in my wide field shot of these area last year but noway closer to your sharp view :thumbsup:

Cheers
Marco