Ic 5251

[richardo]

Hi all,
been a while in posting a new image due to abhorrent weather.
This is not really very dynamic but one I've been testing my new OAG and other stuff on with a more minimised setup.
Quite an interesting object and one that isn't imaged a great deal due I guess to its size, isolated location and lack of anything that's really startling

Had my OAG prism shadow in the main ccd's field, flats took care of that but have moved it out a little further now.

Here's a link (http://www.baytop-observatory.com/) hit the thumb on my main page for a look.

All the best
Rich

[gregbradley]

Very nice Rich.

I like that a lot. Beautiful stars and the galaxy is quite clear.

Greg.

[atalas]

A beauty Rich!

[richardo]

Hey Greg, thanks mate!
Have some other things to sort out, but getting there.
Kept this at 4 min exposures as I had done the lum with the old guide scope, but the colour was done with the oag.
Having the OAG is letting me get out to 7+ mins at the mo... still a couple of issue to put to rest then will be good to go for longer sub exposures.



Thanks Louie.
Not the best of imaging weather that's for sure. Catching holes in clouds to test stuff... and super heavy dew... and as usual when you think you have a prob solved, the clouds come back in and rains.
Been lovely weather today though, so will get out and add some more to an on going project tonight.

Cheers for the comments guys:thumbsup:

All the best
Rich

[multiweb]

Great field Rich, peppered with galaxies everywhere. The main subject is very unusual too. Must have been a challenge to process next to that bright star spikes. Top work. :thumbsup:

[richardo]

Hi Marc and cheers for the comments!

I probably spent the most time on the Lum trying to better bring the little galaxies out reduce artifacts ( don't ask). Although the conditions weren't really optimal to say the least.
Actually last night, was very nice and not binning colour brought better depth to the actual galaxy. Fixed the mushiness up a little from the lum.
I didn't really have to do anything much to the rgb.

Really, my pre processing has been a night mare of late as I've had some interference happening through the computer from a device which I'll sort out very soon. I've had to resort to subtracting dark frames which normally I never have had to do with this chip.

All will be sorted soon anyway.

All the best:thumbsup:

Rich

[bokglob]

A great deepfield there Rich, timeless, so much to look at:eyepop: Thanks for the view!

[Ross G]

A beautiful photo Rich.


Thanks.


Ross.

[strongmanmike]

A very interesting galaxy that Ricki the stars look great but I notice all the little background galaxies have an irregular oblate halo around them like they are all ellipticals with central bars..? My first suspect is that while trying to isolate them to enhance them you have selected them with an automatic selection tool which has created arbitrary lassos and not feathered the selection properly and this may have left the halos..? What do you think?

Otherwise nice work.

Mike

[Octane]

That's a stunner, Rich. Your stars are magic!

Also, nice work on capturing that massive supernova going off in that galaxy of yours. :P

Looking forward to more from you.

H

[jase]

Excellent image Rich! Would have been quite a challenge to process the galaxy so close to the bright star. With the galaxy nucleus lumination similar to that of the diffraction spike running through it, it gives the illusion that you've lost it in the processing. Have you considered relayering using lighten mode to get the spike back? All accounts, this is a fantastic image. Love the colours and background galaxies too. Well done.

[richardo]

Cheers for that Darrell. I had the lum sitting there, thought well since I've never bothered with this object, I'd better get some colour to it.
Quite an interesting read about it.



Thanks Ross for the nice comments!



Hey Migel, Thanks for the nice comments and critique!
Hard to get the ball passed you :D
I didn't use any selection tool, but what I did and usually do with these galaxy fields is paint in the more stretched version to only the faint galaxies. And my width on the brush was yes, a little over sized:P But I thought, what the hey, while there are some spirals, there are also a fair amount of elliptical galaxies..... ok ok, a bit of slackness creeping in...
Still with my monitor its not too apparent.. well, only to the really critical eye...:D and mine because I knew what I did.



Hey H.... cheers there bra!
Actually it wasn't too much of a drama with the bright blue beggar (your super nova:D).. the lum was quite fuzzy, and the colour really made up for it, being a great night, better defining the small stars within...



Hi Jase, nice of you to say mate!
Surprisingly, it wasn't all that difficult. I guess one of those images that come together fairly painlessly... well apart my pre-processing wows, soon to be sorted.mm I hope!
It's funny, the 'lost' spike is actually this way in all the l r g b frames... It's like the brightness from the galaxies core has largely diminished its refraction.. weird but true!! I'm wondering if it is because this galaxy emits a large amount of blue light from the blue giants thus canceling out this portion of the spike??
Looks like the star has stabbed the galaxy.

Thanks a lot guys for your nice comments and critique... good to have sounding boards to bounce stuff off.

All the best for now and happy photon hunting.:thumbsup:
Rich

[RB]

Very nice Rich !
Lovely field, heaps of little fuzzies sprinkled about.

:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Hey, I'm not over scrutinising really (I do roll my eyes at this habit in some people :rolleyes:), it's just that the faint fuizzies are something that attract me and it was a little obvious to me that they didn't look right, that t'was all :)

The rest of the image looked great :thumbsup:

Mike

[jase]

Came back for a second squiz. I really am enjoying this scene Rich. Don't leave it so long between posting images otherwise we'll send out the search party. Cheers!

[glenc]

Excellent image Rich.

[Hagar]

Very nice Rich, I had thought the big star would have overwhelmed the galaxy but you have managed this very nicely.

Well done. A lovely image.

[richardo]

It's ok big chappy,:thumbsup: I'm not a delicate type when it comes to my images.. if it's posted, it's up for scrutiny imo... so I know you weren't nit picking, just plain good observation;)



Cheers for that Jase.... ;)



Thanks Glen!



Thank you Doug.... I guess with 4 min exposures, the bright star was kept from overly killing too much signal from the galaxy:shrug:

Thanks chaps for the nice words.
Appreciated:thumbsup:
Rich

[Paul Haese]

Nice work Rich. I really like the field shown here and the processing looks great.

[richardo]

Thanks very much Paul for saying!
Such a small galaxy, I guess it gets over looked a lot of time for the larger objects.
Nice to have a bit of a glimpse at it. A quite interesting galaxy in its own right.

All the best:thumbsup:
Rich

[Stevec35]

Very nicely done Rich. Yet another excellent image from you.

Cheers

Steve

[richardo]

Thanks Steve,
long time coming as per the weather.
Things are dialed nicely now, or to a point where I'm pretty happy with the way things are going in both optics and setup.
Just need to have lots of clear nights to consolidate and enjoy :)

All the best
Rich