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Old 04-11-2012, 04:13 PM
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strongmanmike (Michael)
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Massive stellar halo around NGC 253

Just been playing with recent data and the halo of stars around NGC 253 really is enormous.

Stretched and displayed in negative it makes it clear just how large it is - doubles or triples the size of the galaxy really.

I haven't seen another image anywhere that shows it this large..? Bit of Milky Way cirrus in the sky there too

Massive NGC 253 Halo

Mike
easily kept amused by data.....
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Old 04-11-2012, 04:18 PM
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astroron (Ron)
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Very Nice
Cheers
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Old 04-11-2012, 04:28 PM
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Great image!
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Old 04-11-2012, 05:20 PM
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Interesting, sure is an impressive size. Nice deep data
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Old 04-11-2012, 09:12 PM
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Very interesting, Mike! What we normally see is in images is really just the core of the galaxy.
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  #6  
Old 04-11-2012, 09:17 PM
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Amazing. One doesn't really think of the "fuzz" around the brighter galaxies as stars. Thanks for the insight.
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Old 04-11-2012, 10:17 PM
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Deep, neat and sweet.
Thanks Mike
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Old 04-11-2012, 10:58 PM
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The extended halo around NGC253 is real and well documented, you have captured this very well.

But.. sorry, I suspect your flat-fields need re-calibration.

There is vignetting and flux at 2 o'clock in the image you posted: likely this is an instrumentation artifact ( along with the bright corners from the vignetting) .

There is also an interesting s-bend looking feature at lower left!

Could be you have discovered a new neb..or might be an instrument artifact.

Attached your posted image with the proverbial stretched out of it...
Attached Thumbnails
Click for full-size image (n253Xtreme.jpg)
200.7 KB73 views

Last edited by Peter Ward; 04-11-2012 at 11:22 PM.
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Old 04-11-2012, 11:08 PM
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Very interesting post Mike. Well done on that capture. This is an area of interest to me.

Greg.
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Old 04-11-2012, 11:11 PM
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Wow that looks awesome Peter, I may very well have discovered something new, thanks for taking the time to analyse my image, you're a champ

Don't think it is instrument related, the flats I use are fine and along with the huge halo around NGC 253 there is definitely Milky Way Cirrus in there too

Mike
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Old 04-11-2012, 11:17 PM
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strongmanmike (Michael)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gregbradley View Post
Very interesting post Mike. Well done on that capture. This is an area of interest to me.

Greg.
Cheers Greg, you should have a stretch too and see if you can find the cistern to go with the S-bend P.Ward found ...or maybe he planted it there..

Mike
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Old 04-11-2012, 11:25 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike View Post
Cheers Greg, you should have a stretch too and see if you can find the cistern to go with the S-bend P.Ward found ...or maybe he planted it there..

Mike
No plant...and I dread to correct.....lower *left*

Do I get dibs on the "discovery" ??
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Old 04-11-2012, 11:27 PM
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strongmanmike (Michael)
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Originally Posted by Peter Ward View Post
No plant...and I dread to correct.....lower *left*

Do I get dibs on the "discovery" ??
Why of course Peter, it's all yours, knock yourself out
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  #14  
Old 04-11-2012, 11:34 PM
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Originally Posted by strongmanmike View Post
Why of course Peter, it's all yours, knock yourself out
OK... I have to ask...did you use a polynomial function to auto-flatten the background?

If not, that s-bend feature may well be real!
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Old 04-11-2012, 11:39 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Ward View Post
OK... I have to ask...did you use a polynomial function to auto-flatten the background?

If not, that s-bend feature may well be real!
No polynomial functions but I did use an algebraic inverse to stretch the halo and cirrus. Because the full well capacity is proportional to pixel depth I never thought polynomial functions would work..?

Interesting

Mike
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  #16  
Old 04-11-2012, 11:55 PM
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strongmanmike (Michael)
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Originally Posted by jjjnettie View Post
Amazing. One doesn't really think of the "fuzz" around the brighter galaxies as stars. Thanks for the insight.
Yes "go the fro"

Mike
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  #17  
Old 05-11-2012, 08:16 AM
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prokyon (Werner Probst)
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Great, never seen before!
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  #18  
Old 05-11-2012, 10:33 AM
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Originally Posted by prokyon View Post
Great, never seen before!
Cheers Werner, yes it is rarely revealed in photos of this galaxy, I am sure it has been gradient removed out a few times too as perhaps the Milky Way Cirrus too..?

Mike
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  #19  
Old 05-11-2012, 10:56 AM
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strongmanmike (Michael)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Ward View Post
The extended halo around NGC253 is real and well documented, you have captured this very well.

But.. sorry, I suspect your flat-fields need re-calibration.

There is vignetting and flux at 2 o'clock in the image you posted: likely this is an instrumentation artifact ( along with the bright corners from the vignetting) .

There is also an interesting s-bend looking feature at lower left!

Could be you have discovered a new neb..or might be an instrument artifact.

Attached your posted image with the proverbial stretched out of it...
Hey I was having a lend of you in my replies last night, you do put up a large target with your strange manipulations and wild accusations about my images sometimes but on reflection Peter and given your use of inverse polynomials etc in your processing I would have thought you would know better

Grossly stretching the contrast of an already stretched image beyond reasonable levels with the sole intention of revealing minor blemishes, will obviously then grossly exaggerate any tiny variation that may exist across the frame too and cover up the real features like faint galactic cirrus. This of course will happen if you apply such meaningless heavy handed processing to just about any image with such a high contrast stretch and will show tiny fractions of a % variations to be big black areas . Try it on Martins latest Crab for example, same thing happens ie the left side of the image becomes all black while the right side is still light and there is a noticeable processing ring around the Crab too but these are completely unnoticeable in the original (and beautiful) image.

Sigh...can't wait for your reply

Mike
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  #20  
Old 05-11-2012, 11:32 AM
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Fact: Any eight bit image is already posterized.

Fact: Doing anything extreme with an eight bit image will lead to artefacts.

Fact: Any noise can be fitted to a high order polynomial. Why bother when we have FFT's that can quickly show the lack of power functions in the noise/data.


See here and Google further.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectral_density


All of science is about signal to noise.

Sometimes one mans noise is another mans signal. It takes deep knowledge to differentiate the two.

It is akin to finding Osama bin Ladens bearded face in a piece of toast. I prefer to suspect the toaster of magic powers! Not the bread.

Bert
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