[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Thanks a lot for the kind remarks everyone!

Originally Posted by Octane

Marcus,

Magnificent doesn't even begin to cut it.

Lost for words.

H

Cheers H!

Originally Posted by h0ughy

OMG , the detail, the only repro!! THe Man, the mission, the guts, this is the glory!!!!!

Hehe thanks Dave! BTW - I'm in the process of setting up my new 64 bit Lappy

Originally Posted by richardo

Marcus, lovely image for sure!!
There's a lot of tiny stars that I usually check to see how well they're resolved just around the dust lane and this little giant killer has done them very well indeed!!
Lots to see with fainter background galaxies.
Nicely processed as well.

Real Cool!!

Rich

Thanks Rich! When the seeing is good the TOA shines that's for sure! I'm glad you went in for a close look!

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Well Marcus that's a spectacular rendition, the details you have revealed are nothing short of incredible! That looks as if it could have been done with a 16" RC without a problem. Using the extender and the AO unit turns a 6" into a 16" amazing ...the seeing helps for sure as does the AO but clearly you have mastered the art of layered deconvolution too, top stuff

...you pipped me on resolution buuuut sigh..I am affraid the full extent of the galaxy can't be seen though ... sooo I can't pass on the baton yet I am affraid.. ...how about we share it?

Mike
BTW...AP + extender + AO would kick TOA butt

Cheers mate! Glad you liked it!

Yeah, always wondered why you didn't stick a barlow on that old rig - you may have gotten close to matching the performance of the TOA!

Full extent eh?! For YOUR benefit only and remembering mine is 1) a mere 1/3 the exposure of your deep image and 2) taken from much less than a truely dark sky, I've attached a compressed version of my hyper-stretched image. You can see it shows quite a bit of the extent your remarkable image does, but not quite with the same quality. Surprising really, only 7.5 hours (3.5 hrs Lum) and not in the darkest part of my sky. Man, if I only had a reeeeally dark sky <sigh> ... watch out!!

The 3 focal lengths my TOA serve me well and gives me a lot of options. I'll still be getting a larger aperture though, but my primary goal will be longer FL work rather than WF stuff.

Originally Posted by Ross G

An incredible photo Marcus!

The detail, sharpness and colour is amazing.

A standard to judge others by.

Thank you.


Ross.

High praise there Ross, thanks very much!

Originally Posted by SkyViking

Fantastic image Marcus, you must be very happy with that. That dust lane is just brimming over with details
And in full screen view this image is simply glorious, the galaxy takes up the whole screen - very very nice! Definitely one of the best Centaurus A images I have seen.

Thanks a lot Rolf. Yep, very happy with it - and pleasantly surprised how much detail I managed to capture.

Originally Posted by multiweb

That is really great. Lots of details I've never seen before like the blue star forming region on the other side of the one that is normally seen. The dust lane is perfectly resolved while keeping the star colors intact with their soft profile. Masterly processed.

PS: This image really strikes a chord with me. I've just noticed there are a couple of faint fuzzies in the field too. Again top shelf stuff.

Cheers Marc! Yes, I think the larger (for me) stellar profiles for the brighter stars help balance the image. I would normally try to make them a bit smaller. There are a few faint fuzzies in there worth finding so I encourage everyone to zoom in!!

Originally Posted by alexch

Spectacular!

Thanks Alex!

Originally Posted by Stevec35

Excellent image Marcus. The detail in the dust lane is great.

Cheers

Steve

Thanks a lot Steve!

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Very purdy there partner....

Aw shucks good buddy .. t'weren't nothin! Thank'y karndly
!

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

sigh.....so beautiful

Glad you liked it JJ