A peek deep inside the core of Omega Centauri

[SkyViking]

Hi All, I put the new Serrurier truss scope to the test the other night by trying to get a high resolution view of the core of Omega Centauri. I can happily say that this new scope continues to deliver in bucket loads.

I captured 300 frames of 5 seconds each, of which I stacked the best 150. The result shows the core of the cluster in very high resolution and is a significant improvement over my earlier Omega Centauri images (none of which are wide field due to my miniscule chip size...) I have also inserted a scale at the top to illustrate the resolution of the image.

Image is available here: http://upload.pbase.com/rolfolsen/image/134619782/original
And an animated GIF showing Hubble comparison: http://www.pbase.com/rolfolsen/image/134619793/original

It's interesting to compare with the famous Hubble image and notice an almost perfect match of features. The faint patterns in the background that look like image noise are in fact the combined light from groupings of smaller stars which are not individually resolved in this image. These patterns clearly correspond with the positions of the fainter stars in the image from the Hubble Space Telescope.
Also visible are large numbers of blue stars of a uniform medium brightness. These are 'blue stragglers' - stars that are too hot and massive for the cluster's otherwise old age. Last year I posted an image showing these, but this new image is a vast improvement :lol:
Given the ancient origin of the cluster these stars should have turned into red giants by now, but it has been proposed that they are the results of mergers and mass transfers in the crowded environment of globular clusters. A main sequence star can exist for billions of years in the cluster and then later gain mass from a close orbiting binary, or as a result of a collision/merger, and thereby become more massive and hotter so that it now appears as a blue giant.

Hope you enjoy it, comments/critique is welcome as always.

Regards,
Rolf

[multiweb]

Great comparison Rolf. Top shot! :thumbsup:

[astroron]

I prefare the Hubble pic:P;)
Good work Rolf
Cheers

[Octane]

Again, Rolf, truly wonderful!

Pick a star, throw in a 5x POWERMATE, and now map its proper motion! :)

H

[Sarge]

Rolf,
Fantastic.:eyepop:
It is nearly impossible to get ones mind around the number of stars in such a small space (comparitively speaking). Imagine what it would be like to actually be there! :cool:
Until then, your photos are as close as we can get.
Well done.
:D:D
Rod

[John Hothersall]

Love the hires closeup with so many stars and yours does stand up quite well to the HST considering the imbalance of optics and location, the colours match well too.

John.

[Hagar]

Great comparison Rolf. I must admire how diligent you must be to get the comparison aligned with the hubble image.
Not to far behind hubble in my opinion.
Well done.

[tornado33]

Great comparison there. Well done

[SkyViking]

Thanks Marc :)


Thank you Rob :)


Thanks H - I did try with a 5x Powermate but the stars are too faint. :lol:They require much longer exposure time at the long focal length, and that ruins the resolution. I think a 2x Powermate might work well though.


Thank you Rod :) Yes there are quite a few stars in there. The Hubble pic is just stunning at full resolution.


Thank you John. I was impressed with how well it matched the Hubble pic, including the colours. It's also interesting to note that the blue stragglers all seem to have nearly identical magnitudes. There are no blue stragglers among the fainter stars, they seem mostly yellowish-white in the Hubble pic.


Thanks Doug :) Still a bit to go to reach Hubble resolution I reckon :lol: But personally I'm very happy with the result as it's a significant improvement over my earlier attempts at doing this. The new scope helps a lot!


Thank you :)

[renormalised]

Great piccie, Rolf:):)