In the full frame we've arrowed some 200 objects that we felt were either definite or highly probable galaxies based on their morphology, stopping at the point where we've probably falsely labelled a couple stars, and missed a couple real ones. No attempt has been made to distinguish cluster members from line of sight background fellows, but you can probably get a good idea by just eyeballing.
The cluster is dominated by a huge elliptical galaxy, showing as a warm homogenous orange, because it has used up all its star-forming gas, and all the short-lived hot young blue stars are long gone.
Compare with the gorgeous face-on spiral showing intense star formation in the spiral arms at 11 o'clock in the thumb, with hot young blue stars a-plenty, especially in the upper spiral arm.
At the seven o'clock edge of the thumb is a side-on spiral, with a strong boxy "X"-shape in the core indicating the presence of a central bar.
Toward ten o'clock and 12 o'clock edges of the thumb are two bluish tidally distorted galaxies.
In the full image, toward the top right corner, is an unmistakeable StarShip Enterprise.
Toward the 10 o'clock edge of the full frame is a very faint but blue and featureless galaxy, which may perhaps be a foreground dwarf.
FLI PL16803 on 20 inch PlaneWave CDK. All robotics hardware, scope control, and image processing software built/written in house by us.
Very cool. Like a Hubble deep field. There are some severely disrupted pairs in the fov and some are so irregular they look like a splat on a wall.
Thanks Marc. I reckon the dwellers in those irregular blob galaxies will have sleepless nights now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by peter_4059
Great stuff M&T. I really like these deep field images. So many galaxies!
Aye, Peter, to think that a typical galaxy has say 200 billion stars, and there are 200 obvious galaxies in the image. That's 40 trillion stars.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy01
Fantastic result guys, a simply wonderful image - love it!
Thanks Andy! We are greatly encouraged. Going up to the observatory this morning before dawn to collect the booty, temperature 1.5 degrees, even in a freezer suit, gloves, and furry hat, was the hardest bit of all.
Hi Mike and Trish,
Amazing picture -so many galaxies.
I can't find the Star Ship Enterprise -
but I'm sure Captain Kirk is there somewhere.
cheers
Allan
Thanks Allan,
Trish meant the emblem, the thing on their uniform. I wrote the starship. My bad. But it's a bit blurry, due to the jump to light speed, and it could plausibly be either.
Thanks Allan,
Trish meant the emblem, the thing on their uniform. I wrote the starship. My bad. But it's a bit blurry, due to the jump to light speed, and it could plausibly be either.
While we're being whimsical, a thought about elliptical galaxies. They look all quiet and boring, lifeless even, because star formation has ceased. No harsh ultraviolet light from young suns to get life going. But perhaps they are exactly the right place for old farts to live in comfort, without getting shredded by supernovas.
Thanks Allan,
Trish meant the emblem, the thing on their uniform. I wrote the starship. My bad. But it's a bit blurry, due to the jump to light speed, and it could plausibly be either.
Wonderful inspiring image Mike and Trish. Love it!
Last night I finished collecting data for the cat's paw and after seeing your extra deep field image, I thought I should try something similar in the near future, weather permitting. I didn't count the arrows, but I am proposing with 99% confidence level that there are still many more galaxies in your image
Can we see the Placidus Deep Field without all the little arrows, please?
Thanks Bart. We've used tweezers to pull out all the little arrows. Will upload it tomorrow.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Ward
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....
Stuff to inspire....wonderful.
Thanks Peter! Most encouraging.
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike
Excellent galaxy shot guys, I recall the 2018 shot too
Galaxy cluster shopts are just so intriguing especially whne they have such a mix of shapes.
There is a serious amount of galactic cirrus in front of this cluster, can you see it in your Lum?
Mike
Thanks Mike We can indeed see the cirrus. It came out quite well. We'll prepare a version just to show that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slawomir
Wonderful inspiring image Mike and Trish. Love it!
Last night I finished collecting data for the cat's paw and after seeing your extra deep field image, I thought I should try something similar in the near future, weather permitting. I didn't count the arrows, but I am proposing with 99% confidence level that there are still many more galaxies in your image
Thanks so much Suavi. Your cat's paw was very special.
I didn't go around and count them all but damn there is a lot of arrows you've added in there M&T
It's an exceptional image, well processed and leaves us with a sense of smallness in the universe
Gee M and T I only count 199. errh joking. Wonderful deep shot. These galaxy chain images are really popular shots and remind us just how much stuff there is in the Universe. Unimaginably large amounts of stuff.
There are some severely disrupted pairs in the fov and some are so irregular they look like a splat on a wall.
We can indeed see the cirrus. It came out quite well. We'll prepare a version just to show that.
