Ngc6744

[Dave882 (David)]

NGC6744 is an intermediate spiral galaxy which is interacting with its companion galaxy (NGC6744A) - somewhat similar to our own LMC. Interestingly, it was discovered here in Sydney by James Dunlop in 1826!

Taking advantage of some clear and moonless skies this last week - I managed to get 4hrs over 2 nights. Located in Pavo, this is a beautiful target, quite large but very faint.

I found it quite difficult to process, as to reveal the very faint spiral arms, in particular the one linking NGC6744A, it was easy to blow out the core which holds some beautiful dusty detail. Hopefully I got the balance right...

I tried also some noise reduction, but I wasn't happy with the result, so I present the original out of APP- a somewhat noisy version that I will certainly add some more hours to when I get the chance.

C14 on the eq8
asi2600mc Pro / asi290mm / OAG (no filters)
ASIAIR Pro / APP for stacking and processing
B6/7 Padstow skies with no moon
120x 2min subs

Here's the bigger one...

Thanks for looking

[AstroViking (Steve)]

Lovely image, David.

You can see all the colours in the arms, and as you said, the core is not blown-out.

I can't wait to see the result of adding more data to it.

Cheers,
V

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Another great image again David. Colours look spot on and your processing has done justice to this galaxy. I photographed this one a few years back with an 8 inch Newtonian and DSLR from a Bortle 6 Melbourne sky, which is no where as good as yours. Your image has made me want to give it another go. It really is a low surface brightness galaxy, so it's quite a challenge from light polluted skies. You've done very well to capture so much detail.

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

great work David a great shot of my favourite spiral galaxy - and way fainter than people realise!

[Dave882 (David)]

Thanks guys for the comments - yes it is very faint and there's a lot of fine detail in there -but definitely needs some more time time tease it out. As it happens, I actually had about another 4hrs of data on this target but was relying on the ASIAIRs autorun to do the early morning shifts and after the meridian flip it just couldn't lock onto a guide star so had to throw away a HEAP of subs

[xelasnave]

An excellent image David.
I would be surprised if you can improve on it but please prove me wrong.
Alex

[Drac0 (Mark)]

Nice work. Tried this one a couple of weeks ago but didn't work well. Will have to try it again with my new gear.
Cheers

[Dave882 (David)]

Thanks Alex! Much appreciate the compliment! While I’m quite certain I can make some improvements, I reckon the secret might be just to be content with wherever you are on the journey…then every shots a winner!!

Cheers Mark- I’m looking forward to what you can get! I reckon you could get something nice with the c8 but probably need around 8hrs in a dark sky to bring out some of the detail I reckon. Good news is it’s really high overhead right now!!

[AdamJL]

That's really nice! Looks like there's detail in those spiral arms begging for more integration time. Could be one of those targets that needs multiple years. I've added it to the list

[Dave882 (David)]

Originally Posted by AdamJL

That's really nice! Looks like there's detail in those spiral arms begging for more integration time. Could be one of those targets that needs multiple years. I've added it to the list

Thanks mate. Yes definitely could benefit from some more time but my list is never getting shorter and the number of good nights are so limited so I do think it might just be something I come back to next year! But who knows I may have another stab at it sooner

[Doogs38 (Alex)]

That really is a great image Dave. It's quite amazing how much detail your C-14 / camera / guiding combo can capture. Regards, Alex

[Stephane]

Great image, Dave. Your acquisition & processing skills are very good. I should be getting the same camera as yours today. Sadly, clouds for the foreseeable future here. Keep those photos coming. I love to see what you can do with your data.

[Dave882 (David)]

Thanks Stephane and Alex- much appreciated! Yes I am extremely happy how the setup is performing (especially since I only got the c14 for planetary and visual- my edge8 hasn’t come out to play for a while). The 2600mc has been a real weapon, and when the guiding is spot on I’m amazed at what kind of detail it can acquire. I truely feel very privileged to have the opportunity to delve so deeply into our universe and marvel at its hidden treasures!!

Plenty of things to work on with both processing and acquisition- I’ve actually just purchased a new Starizona sct reducer that will solve a number of my current headaches around guiding. The big issue I’ve been dealing with is using a apsc size sensor in an image train with a limited image circle due to the celestron 0.63x reducer. This has resulted in very challenging oag star selection, often leading to poor guiding because the guide stars are at the absolute edge of the image circle. Anyways…I’m looking forward to setting up the new train in the next few days!

Thanks again for the encouragement and comments!