A beautiful clear and cold (-3 deg C) out at Wallaroo last night so I had a great evening of astro endeavours, including imaging and observing with my mate Attila, we had great fun and pulled an allnighter and everything outside was covered with ice at pack up time...ahhh that's the life .... .
Started on a new project then later in the night and at Attila's request, grabbed this relative quicky
Overshadowed by its gigantic brethren, the mighty Omega Centauri just 5deg away, the much smaller and fainter NGC 5286 in Centaurus makes a beautiful pairing with a bright (but completely unrelated) K-M class star and because of this, NGC 5286 is one of my favourite globular clusters to look at through a telescope....and I did while imaging it it's such a jewel like scene.
Taming a bright star so near a subject is always a challenge..but I think I pulled it off? Also worth mentioning is that under a high contrast stretch the whole field is covered by a web of very faint galactic cirrus dust, similar to what we see near Omega Centauri in deep images, so perhaps a longer exposure at some stage is worth a thought..?
That's a sweet one Mike. I especially like objects near bright stars. I didn't even realise it was there, otherwise I would have had a go at it. Maybe I'll give it a try when this rain clears off. Not that it will look anything like yours.
I notice that super-bright K0 star is magnitude 4, whereas the globular is 7.6, so you've done a fantastic job of showing them both together. Love the really long diffraction spikes. Like a mediaeval caltrop.
This might be one of those rare occasions when some prestidigitation might be justified to give the star its unstretched colour.
This might be one of those rare occasions when some prestidigitation might be justified to give the star its unstretched colour. MBJ
Cheers Mike re the bright star, I thought I had actually ie a bright slightly red-yellow star..? maybe I could saturate it a tad more but you know me and my conservative approach to saturation
Kevin I am sure your rendition will be lovely mate, finders are good for producing works of art
Thanks everyone else too, sometimes it is just nice to take am simple image to capture a visually pleasing scene, rather than for some sort of wow factor
That's a pretty good result Mike, especially with that torch pointing straight down the scope.
I have never seen this cluster! I have looked at Omega a hundred times and never this. Seriously need to get a sky map out.
Anyway, well done.
Nice one Mike! I've imaged this one myself and the bright star certainly adds interest.
Cheers
Steve
Quote:
Originally Posted by Regulus
That's a pretty good result Mike, especially with that touch pointing straight down the scope.
I have never seen this cluster! I have looked at Omega a hundred times and never this. Seriously need to get a sky map out.
Anyway, well done.
Trev
Cheers Trevor, she's worth a look next time you are under dark skies and easy to find given the proximity to Omega
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bassnut
Too many stars. But I do like the multicolour diffraction spikes.
....sigh..the sky is full of stars I am afraid Fred, put there by God just to annoy you
Wonderful vista there Mike. NGC 5286 is one of my favourite globular clusters because of its nice pairing with M Centauri. It was one I practiced on with my early test images from back when I got the QSI camera. Perhaps a deep exposure would be interesting as you say
Wonderful vista there Mike. NGC 5286 is one of my favourite globular clusters because of its nice pairing with M Centauri. It was one I practiced on with my early test images from back when I got the QSI camera. Perhaps a deep exposure would be interesting as you say
Cheers Rolf, have you had a look through a good scope at the pair? A great sight
.... 
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but you know me and my conservative approach to saturation 
....sigh..the sky is full of stars I am afraid Fred, put there by God just to annoy you 
