NGC 4038 and 4039 - the Antennae Galaxies

[RickS]

Data collected at Glen Aplin under dark skies (approx 7 hours) and at home under crap skies (approx 5 hours).

Scope: GSO RC10 @ f/8, 2000mm FL
Mount: AP900
Camera: Starlight Xpress H-18 mono
Filters: Astrodon E series Gen 2
Guiding: SX AO-LF and Lodestar
Focuser: Atlas
Image scale: 0.56 arcsec/pixel
Exposures: 43x10m L, 21x5m R, 21x5m G, 21x5m B

Processed in PixInsight. This one gave me a lot of grief, especially trying to show the faint "antennae" without emphasizing less desirable features of the data.

Constructive criticism and suggestions gratefully received...

Thanks,
Rick.

[RobF]

Wow - that came out stunning Rick :eyepop:

[TrevorW]

Very nice Rick well done although I'd cut back a bit on curves make it a tad softer and less star halo also you have clipped the black point

[Tandum]

That's a stunner Rick. Is that full frame at 2meters?

[Octane]

That is superb.

H

[alpal]

I agree - the data is good enough to be worthy of re-processing.
I think the data is clipped too - not just the blackpoint. i.e
from the edge of the galaxy & spiral arms/antennas the
faint haze is cut too quickly instead of feathered.
It's a great photo.

[OneCosmos]

Nice job Rick - better than I remember.:thumbsup:

[SkyViking]

That looks great! You've got some nice resolution there and fantastic colours. As others have said, you can probably boost the faint tails and outer areas a bit, looks like the data is there.

[jsmoraes]

Amazing image, Rick. Very, very well shot and proccessed. We can see with many details the complex and intense collision-union of two galaxies. Very well registered the main joint point, with intense new star formation. And the dispersion of the arms (antennas) due to rules of this collision

[RickS]

Thanks, Rob!



I spent a lot of time playing with that, Trevor. I agree it's still not ideal and will try some more. More data would help. The antennae are so faint it is hard to bring them out without amplifying other ugliness buried deep in the data. Thanks for the comments!



Thanks, Robin. I did crop but only a small amount.



Thanks, H!



Thanks, Alpal. I'd really love to collect more data on this target. I think it would help a lot with the processing. Still, it's all good experience and I'm sure I can learn to do better.



Thanks, Chris. It was a great couple of nights!



Thanks, Rolf. I appreciate the comments from everyone which will help with the inevitable repro :)



Thanks very much, Jorge. It's a fascinating target!

[RobF]

It's always the age-old problem I guess Rick - do you gather mega-amounts of data in your precious dark sky time, or concentrate on gradually learning and pushing further as you add additional hardware and techniques.

From all comments it certainly looks like you could really do to town with hours more data on this one. So many objects, so little time though! :)

[RickS]

Rob,

I guess I'll just muddle along as best I can until my wife lets me have a couple of huge scopes and an observatory out in the country :lol:

Cheers,
Rick.

[ozstronomer]

Rick, That's a spectacular image, lovely work and well processed.
Looks like those skies at Glen Aplin are worth the trip if this is what you can get.

Well Done :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[RickS]

Thanks, Geoff! It was great to have two nights in a row at Glen Aplin. Not having to set up the second night and then having everything work perfectly was such a pleasure. Must be what having an observatory is like ;)

Cheers,
Rick.

[gregbradley]

Very very nice. Background though is a tad black clipped and some slight elongation in the stars. Was that the polar alignment seeing as you were out in the field?

Very sharp though. Better than mine with a CDK17 at home.

Greg.

[naskies]

Beautiful - well done! I love that ultra smooth (but not out of focus) look. Yep, I agree that the second night in the field when all you have to do is switch on power is pure bliss.

[Martin Pugh]

Nicely done Rick

Martin

[RickS]

Thanks, Greg. I'm not sure whether I might have managed to damage the stars somehow in the processing. When I did the PSF estimation for deconvolution I picked 60-70 stars and the average aspect ratio was up in the high 0.9s and there wasn't any consistency in rotation angle. That said, I'm sure my polar alignment wasn't perfect. I get so little time under dark skies that I don't spend a lot of time tweaking it. I'll see if I can fix the stars (and the black clipping) in my next repro attempt.



Thanks, Dave. I hope you're going to get some quality dark sky time once semester is over!



Thank you very much, Martin!

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Stunning image Rick!

One thing, the brighter stars have irregular shaped halo's, is that just from processing?

Cheers,

Justin.

[strongmanmike]

Excellent details in the two lobes Rick...nice result that :thumbsup:

Mike

[RickS]

Thanks, Justin. I did quite a lot of work to reduce the stars and the big ones gave me the most trouble. That's probably the cause of the odd halos. Getting the galaxies *and* the stars right is my next processing challenge.



Thanks, Mike!

[atalas]

Terrific shot Rick! splendid color and the lobes.

[allan gould]

Almost missed this one Rick. Excellent effort and I look forward to the repro (pixinsight?)
Thanks for the assist too
Allan

[stevous67]

Hi Rick,

Beautiful detail, especially in the small resolution of the IIS image viewer - terrific. :eyepop:

BR

Steve

[RickS]

Thanks, Louie!



Ta, Allan. Yes, I'm using PI.



Thanks, Steve. I'll post a link to a high res version when I'm tired of reprocessing it :lol:

[stardust steve]

A pleasure to view.
Nice one:thumbsup:

[RickS]

Thanks, Steve!

[multiweb]

Tough target - superb shot. :thumbsup:

[Leonardo70]

Congratulations Rick ... this is a fantastic shot.
Your resolution is very hard to manage ... and you really do a great job.

All the best,
Leo

[RickS]

Thanks, Marc!



Thank you, Leo.

I have been away travelling with work and had a break from processing, so I think I'm about ready to try a repro. I'm happy with the galaxy lobes but I'd like to do a better job on the stars...

[peter_4059]

Outstanding image Rick. Well done.

[Ross G]

A beautiful photo Rick.

Amazing colour and detail.

Ross.

[RickS]

Thanks, Peter & Ross.

[CoolhandJo]

Wow! Great capture and processing! The colours look nice to me.

[RickS]

Thanks, Paul.

[Bassnut]

Wow that's exeptional. The antenna came up well for 10min subs and the 41 off sure killed noise. Star colour is tops too. All up a grand effort, very polished.

[RickS]

Thanks, Fred!

Here's my latest repro:
http://rickstevenson.smugmug.com/Astro-Photography/2012-06/23698680_zhPM7k#!i=1920565098&k=kdfP2fF&lb=1&s=L (http://rickstevenson.smugmug.com/Astro-Photography/2012-06/23698680_zhPM7k#%21i=1920565098&k=kdfP2fF&lb=1&s=L)

Lots of processing lessons learned along the way...

Cheers,
Rick.

[Stevec35]

That's a lovely shot Rick. Nice detail and I think the colour's just right.

Cheers

Steve

[jjjnettie]

What a beauty!!

[John Hothersall]

Great to so this thread develop and a fine result Rick.

John.

[Paul Haese]

Heaps of data and great saturation. Love the detail. Maybe sort te background a bit Ric. Nice going.

[peter_4059]

The repro is a big improvement Rick. Great image.

[RickS]

Thanks, Steve!



Glad you like it, JJJ!



Thank you, John.



Thanks, Paul. Did you mean the background of the original or the repro?



Thanks, Peter. The comments from everyone have been really helpful.

[naskies]

Great repro!

Btw - what is your dew shield made out of? (I saw it on your other photo in the album.)

[batema]

That is a stunner. Are you happy with the GSO and is it the white one or CF. If you could tell me your thought as I am so close to phoning Andrews on Monday and getting one. My delema is I have an EQ6pro so I know I will be pushing it.

[ozstronomer]

Love the repo Rick really well done:thumbsup:

[RickS]

Thanks, Dave! The dew shield is an Orion Flexi-shield. I'm not sure exactly what material it's made of.



Thanks, Mark. I have the CF version but I think it's more a matter of looking cool than saving weight or reducing thermally induced dimensional change (the primary and secondary assemblies appear to be attached to the metal dovetail plates). I'll reply to your PM and give you some more of my thoughts...



Thanks, Geoff. Hope you're enjoying the holiday!

[allan gould]

Your repro is really stunning. Love it.

[RickS]

Thanks, Allan.

[Paul Haese]

The original Rick. The latest version is superb.

[RickS]

Thanks, Paul!