Ngc300

[richardo]

Hi folks,
have put in almost 11 hours on this object battling pretty poor conditions over the last month to add to it.
Left out 2 hours of Ha that i took as I'd need heaps more and am ready for another object :rolleyes:


The extra colour really made the difference.
But I think this really needs a larger aperture, or at least
20+ hours to start resolving the really faint stars within the arms.
If the weather allowed me to image night after night, would have kept on going with this.
But there are other galaxies in the area I want to get down as I haven't imaged them for a long while.

Here's my effort if you wish to have a look.
Direct link to the high res image.
http://www.baytop-observatory.com/ccdimages/galaxies/ngc300_newth16.htm (http://www.baytop-observatory.com/)

All the best
Rich

[Lester]

Very nice detailed image Rich. Thanks for the view.

[strongmanmike]

Yeh, excellent Richard, love all the interacting galaxies in the background too!

Not sure there is much colour in this galaxy anyway :shrug:

Top effort dude

MIke

[Stevec35]

That's a very nice NGC 300 Rich. Have you considered blending in some Ha to bring out the H II regions?

Cheers

Steve

[madbadgalaxyman]

Better than nearly all of the amateur images of NGC 300 that I have seen.

See the overluminous star cluster at the very centre of this galaxy?

Nuclear star clusters are similar to globular star clusters in their structure, but they often contain some stars of younger ages than globulars do....furthermore, they can be several mags more luminous than even the most luminous "old" globular star clusters.

I used to know how luminous the nuclear star cluster is, in this galaxy, but have forgotten it. It is one of the very best of these objects for observation, due to the cluster's high luminosity and the relative proximity of this galaxy.

[Alchemy]

Very good, the color in the core with the hint or redness, contrasts so well to the blue arms. I'd have to agree it's one of the best I've seen. Usually it just doesn't have much more than a blue wash.
Extra hours are always going to give a better image, but after several nights it can wear a bit thin with the diminishing returns.

[RobF]

That's just amazing Rich. Beautiful and inspiring image. The depth in the image showing so many other objects is breath-taking. Top shot!

[atalas]

Looks great.

[Ric]

A lovely image Rich.

Lots of detail and so much to see in this image.

[Rigel003]

That's a magnificent image, Rich. So much fine detail in the spiral arms and the many tiny background galaxies have come out well. This tends to be the poor cousin of NGC 253 for photographers but it has a really beautiful classic shape as revealed here. Well done.

[richardo]

Cheers for that Lester!
Would have loved for our E.P weather to hang in there for at least 3 nights but it's take it as it comes unfortunately.. at least we haven't seen the strong Sth-easterlies yet.. (hold my breath)



Hey Migel, thanks mate!
I like the way extra colour has really enriched these little galaxies.. the spiral up to the top R/H corner looks nice and the other interesting one just below it edge on also.
Yeah this galaxy is very mute colour wise.. I would say the blue wave length is its strongest judging by the individual channels.. red is quite faint to the outer arms



Thanks Steve! I did do 2 hours worth, but the 7min subs really weren't doing a great deal for the little HII knots... I think at least twice this amount or go out to 10 min subs might have helped... or 2xs bin... I might get some more Ha when the moon comes around again.
I think this will be a good object to add to next year..



Thanks very much Robert!
Yes very interesting stuff about the 'over luminous' cluster.... I can see what looks like a very faint cluster of stars in the nucleus, they look to be quite old with a few blues stars..??
I guess it would be a good object for Astronomers to study, there are many easily seen clusters that seem to fill up areas throughout the arms.



Thanks Clive appreciate the comments!
My original work in progress showed little colour and had to be heavily saturated.. even then it was dominated by the blue channel.. but the extra time on colour helped heaps... no messing with colour as my weights seemed spot on..
Yep that's what I thought, after I added the extra lum.... there was little gain for the extra 3 hours.... it was a bit ho hum :)



Thanks very much Rob for the great comments! I too like the assortment of differing galaxy types.. certainly a great area for the galaxy connoisseur



Cheers Louie!!



Hey Ric, thanks very much!



Thanks heaps Graeme!
I agree with you about this galaxy... while N253 is large and bright, this is large and very faint... usually getting passed over for this reason.
A shame really as it is very delicate in its structure and has those wonderful cluster/ star burst areas.. the core isn't overly bright so we can peak into it probably better than most other galaxies.... the nucleus reminds me of M31 a lot for this reason.

Thanks very much guys for your great comments..
Always appreciated:thumbsup:

All the best for now
Rich

[multiweb]

Wow!. That's tops Rich! Great field. Love the colours and the interacting group at the top. :thumbsup:

[richardo]

Thanks Marc!
It was a bit of a beggar to try and do some sort of justice to....
I think a 20" astro graph and a high desert location would really do the job..
We all need a sugar momma and a friend in the Andes :D

[sjastro]

Excellent image Rich.

Regards

Steven

[multiweb]

Short of that you can start buying lollies for Martin? :question: :lol:

[richardo]

That's a thought......
Ah Martin, you know how you've got that remote setup in Nth America, what about the same in Sth America.... I speak Spanish ok :D:D
LOL:lol:

[madbadgalaxyman]

Rich,

you mention "a faint cluster of stars in the nucleus", but what I actually mean by the central Nuclear Star Cluster is the actual "star-like" object that is seen at the very centre of this galaxy.
(I believe that it is visible in your image)

This central "star" seen in this galaxy is actually the central Star Cluster, though this object is not actually the nucleus of this galaxy....... In recent years, the word "nucleus" has come to mean the tiny solar-system-sized body that is usually found at the very centre of a galaxy. (responsible for Seyfert activity, plasma jets, etc.)
(Neither is one of these nuclear star clusters an extended bulge; bulges are extended spheroidal structures of much greater spatial extent)

Here is part of a ground-based, B+V+R + H-alpha
image from ESO press release number eso0221 , showing the
central parts of NGC 300:

101139


Here is a reduced-resolution version of an image from the Hubble Space Telescope and its ACS instrument, in three bands approximating photometric B and V and I.

101140


As can be seen, the Very Evident central star cluster is still somewhat starlike, even with the Hubble Space Telescope.

[John Hothersall]

I am having a go at this but it is so faint I binned the colour and Ha so I hope the Luminance will get the fine detail you have got. This is a splendid galaxy and very close but so hard to see if I centred it in the CCD preview as it was so faint, it does have quite a bit of Ha.

John.

[gregbradley]

Another excellent image Rich. Nicely done.

Greg.

[richardo]

Thanks Robert for clearing this up...
If I can't see it in an image it's hard to understand.
The Hubble image puts this all into context clearly.
So thanks for bringing this to our attention.
It's very interesting taking images but finding detailed information is even better as we are learning about the objects we turn our ccds to every year or there abouts.




Look forward to your version John. Binning is definitely the way to go with colour and Ha. When I bin I have some issues which is a gain adjustment I must do to my camera. Would have loved to have pulled in the HII knots just to finish it off.. but there you go...



Thanks Greg!

And thanks all for your comments and input.

All the best
Rich

[Ross G]

An amazing galaxy photo Rich.

I love it.

Thanks.

Ross.

[iceman]

That's a beauty, Rich. Lovely galaxy.

[madbadgalaxyman]

Rich,

I am glad I cleared up the identity of the nuclear star cluster in NGC 300.

These objects are interesting because they appear to be similar to globular star clusters, yet they can be quite young, unlike all of our own Galaxy's globulars. They tend to be most obvious in galaxies of Hubble Type Sd, as Sd galaxies are systematically less luminous than Sc galaxies, which means that there is less dust extinction in these galaxies (lower mass galaxies seem not to be able to hold on to much interstellar dust)

There also exist other types of globular-cluster-like objects;
such as the Massive Compact Young Clusters recently formed in some collisions between galaxies, and similar looking young clusters in our own Milky Way...... such as Westerlund 1 and NGC 3603
(see the post "Terzan Trio")

Robert

P.S
Messier 11 is usually regarded as an "open" star cluster, yet its total mass and its structure resemble that of a Low Mass globular star cluster.

[richardo]

Thanks very much Ross!



Cheers for the comment Mike!



Thanks again Robert!
I did read that the stars within the clusters of this particular galaxy were much younger than a typical cluster... interesting to note that this occurs in the fainter, central bulge spiral Galaxies (Sd types) in comparison to the Sc type...
All starts to makes sense when we look a little in depth to the morphology of the galaxy types.

Thanks all for your input..
Much appreciated.

All the best
Rich

[madbadgalaxyman]

Yeah, galaxies with a lot of very luminous and massive stars forming, right now, or just in the past, are more likely to host young and massive star clusters that have a structure and appearance very similar to the canonical "old" globulars that we are very familiar with.
There do seem to be good numbers of these massive and young clusters within galaxies such as NGC 1313 and M83, but last I checked (about a year ago), there was little further confirmation of what exactly these objects are.

For all intents and purposes, these objects, for now, can be regarded as young globular star clusters, though they will eventually lose many of their stars with the passage of time.

The interstellar medium (e.g. molecular and atomic hydrogen gas) in those galaxies that currently have a high Star Formation Rate seems to undergo a whole lot of "shaking and stirring and pounding" from energetic events such as supernova shockwaves and the photon pressure emanating from massive stars. This produces extreme conditions that very occasionally lead to the formation of really massive and beautifully symettric star clusters.
(Last I checked, there was still no widely accepted theory as to how exactly these remarkable objects form!!)

Nuclear star clusters, which are - by definition - found at the centres of galaxies, may have a different history again, due to their peculiar position.

[Paul Haese]

Nice work Rich. I really like the field of view in this image. There a plenty of other galaxies to look at in the field. The main subject is really well exposed and like others have said a good example of this galaxy. Finding the time to finish it could be tricky now with all this unpredictable weather.

[SkyViking]

What an amazing view. This is a beautiful image and I really like the subtle processing. Also, the background is just full of action too, all those faint distorted and interacting galaxies are really putting on a show for us. Great work, thanks for sharing.

[richardo]

All interesting food for thought!



Thanks very much Paul!
Yes this weather has been a bit all over the shop.
Have had high faint cloud here for the last couple of days... certainly doesn't help when trying to achieve decent focus.




Thanks for the comments Rolf.. I always liked this galaxy for its delicateness but only ever imaged it once before. It was interesting to see how much effect more time would make...
I'll be prepared next time around and hopefully I'll have a full run at it weather wise.

Thanks again chaps for your comments.

All the best
Rich

[Hagar]

Very nice Rich, I started imaging this mysel a few days back but with only a few hours of exposure and looking at this masterpiece I now realize I have quite a bit of work to go when the sky clears again.

Nice one.

[LucasB]

Amazing picture with great detail! Brilliant processing and capture.
:thumbsup::thumbsup:
Lucas

[richardo]

Thanks Doug!
Yes, you'll need some time to get anything reasonable that's for sure!
Good luck with the weather....
Got nothing but rain and storms here now:(



Thanks Lucas for the nice comments..

Appreciate your comments guys!

All the best
Rich

[Martin Pugh]

Hi Rich
NGC300 is a target I started but didnt finish before I left Australia. This image makes me want to pick right up where I left off when I get back in just a few short weeks.

Very well done on this. The colour in the galaxy is a little muted, but otherwise it is quite splendid.

Martin

[jase]

Excellent imaging Rich (as expected). You've produced structure I've not regularily seen in this target. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Well done.

[Octane]

:eyepop:

Mate, that is a corker of an image! I actually find the soft, muted, pastels to be quite aesthetically-pleasing. But, then, I'm an artist and not a scientist! :D

H

[richardo]

Hi Martin, thanks for the reply and comments!
I really started out thinking of binning the colours however I have a gain setting on my camera that needs to be toned down as 2 xs binning leaves dark streaks off the bright stars... soooo, I had to leave everything to full res.
I will really enjoy seeing a version from you and will be great having you back in Oz...




Thanks very much Jase... very muchly appreciated!



Oh thanks H..... yeah you know me.... 'The pastel Man' :lol:...

Thanks very much again you guys...:thumbsup:

All the best for now
Rich

[marco]

Very nice Rich, I really like the details of your picture, this galaxy is not so often imaged despite its large size, I never understood why, and you really did a nice job in shooting it!

Clear Skies
Marco

[richardo]

Thanks for the comments Marco!
It's definitely big, but such a subtle lady that doesn't give up its inner secrets easily..:)
As mentioned I would have liked to have got much more time on it.
I guess I can still add to the Ha I never used just to get those HII knots.. that I think would really do a bit more justice.

All the best
Rich

[Garyh]

Excellent job Rich! love all the details showing!
Enjoyed looking at your latest images on your site!
Very nice work!
cheers Gary

[richardo]

Thanks very much Gaz!
Been a bit lucky with weather breaks in between crap and it has been really good to get some of these objects down as I haven't imaged them with the Newt.
Good to see you back posting again!

All the best
Rich