Omega the Great

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Home sick with a bad cold and for some reason felt like looking at an image of Omega Centauri .... so I decided to rework some data I collected way back in early 2013, when the big FLI 16803 was last on the AG12.

Remarkably, this is only 34min worth of data...so, probably worth going back for some more sometime huh? .

Anyway...when you consider this, still pretty deep frame, is almost 2 deg on the side you can appreciate the enormous amount of sky this ball of stars takes up and equates to an area several times that off the full moon!

Quite a number of distant background galaxies can be found peeking through between the millions of foreground Milky Way stars and some very faint Milky Way Cirrus dust can be seen across the lower half of the frame too.

Warning - umpteen 1000's of tiny stars, so if you have astigmatism try squinting or look closely, better still, make sure you have your glasses on

Omega the Great

To get a better idea of the grandure of the overall scene, I actually recommend shrinking the image to 50% in your browser

Mike

[atalas]

The big guy with a big cluster.....what a sight

[codemonkey (Lee)]

Goddamn, nice res, Mike! Feel better soon.

[Atmos (Colin)]

VERY nice Mike! Amazing what has been achieved with such a limited data set! Fast scope with huge pixels do capture those photons pretty quickly!

I know I suffer from astigmatism, with and without glasses, worse without. I didn't notice any at all on your image, I find that some images are worse than others. Case in point, Gregs RH with the 694 combination is really bad for my eyes. All the stars with that combination look elongated until I zoom like 1000%. It doesn't do it when he's used the 16803 on the RH however, not sure why.

[clive milne]

That is very good Mike... I'll pay that!

[Stevec35 (Steve)]

That's a very pretty Omega Mike. Get well soon.

Cheers

Steve

[RickS (Rick)]

Nice result, Mikey. Get well soon!

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Thanks for the feedback boys really is a magnificent object huh? Not often seen at this FOV and image scale either...certainly makes me consider remounting the big 16803 on the AG12 again

Oh and feeling better too, back to work tomorrow.....

Mike

[Atmos (Colin)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Thanks for the feedback boys really is a magnificent object huh? Not often seen at this FOV and image scale either...certainly makes me consider remounting the big 16803 on the AG12 again

Oh and feeling better too, back to work tomorrow.....

Mike

In the mean time your 16803 can have a home

[Maurice]

That's a great FOV Mike...
..and a great image.

congrats
Maurice

[Shiraz (Ray)]

yep, sure is a wonderful image of one of the most attractive objects of the lot. Time to set up another scope and mount so that you can get the best out of both of those great cameras.

[gregbradley]

Good image Mike. Quite impactful.

The 16803 is still the best sensor around in my opinion.

Greg.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Atmos

In the mean time your 16803 can have a home

Yes I am sure it could and if you lived closer and brought your gear to Wallaroo I would be quite happy for you to use it Col but a $20K camera/filtewheel/filters is covered under my (significant) insurance policy and I would be reluctant to post it away...so buy that new house here in Canberra mate and we can discuss

Originally Posted by Maurice

That's a great FOV Mike...
..and a great image.

congrats
Maurice

Cheers Maurice

Originally Posted by Shiraz

yep, sure is a wonderful image of one of the most attractive objects of the lot. Time to set up another scope and mount so that you can get the best out of both of those great cameras.

Thanks and I agree Ray, it is my intention to go one step further in the field of view dept by getting myself a new FSQ106ED4 at the end of the year to use with the PL16803 and mount it side saddle with the AG12 on the NJP. It will be pushing the NJP a tad but I am quietly confident it will handle it...if not ...I'll be in trouble

Mike

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Good image Mike. Quite impactful.

The 16803 is still the best sensor around in my opinion.

Greg.

Yes it is a keeper for now

Mike

[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

It's much, much bigger and mightier than it showed up in our attempt. Like those faint distant galaxies too.

[el_draco (Rom)]

Can you find Wally in among all that !

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Placidus

It's much, much bigger and mightier than it showed up in our attempt. Like those faint distant galaxies too.

The larger than usual FOV helps put it the correct scale and context I recon

Originally Posted by el_draco

Can you find Wally in among all that !

No, not reeeally Rom... but there are a few little galaxies

Mike

[Phil Hart]

I'm a 'sharp stars' kind of guy so I prefer this more under-sampled style of image from your AG12. nice shot!

but i know you like pushing the limits more for your hubble comparisons

Phil

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by philiphart

I'm a 'sharp stars' kind of guy so I prefer this more under-sampled style of image from your AG12. nice shot!

but i know you like pushing the limits more for your hubble comparisons

Phil

He he thanks Phil

Yeah, the same scope (in the same optical configuration ie. no barlow etc) that did this Omeg Cen ...also did THIS - two extremes

Mike

[Atmos (Colin)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Yes I am sure it could and if you lived closer and brought your gear to Wallaroo I would be quite happy for you to use it Col but a $20K camera/filtewheel/filters is covered under my (significant) insurance policy and I would be reluctant to post it away...so buy that new house here in Canberra mate and we can discuss

I did the calculations on a 16803, filter wheel, full LRGB and 3nm Astrodons set (Ha, SII, OIII & NII) and it's close to $40,000 AUD
One of the reasons I bought this astrograph is for its 55mm imaging circle, would love to give it a shot one day. Of course, the first night would probably be dedicated to getting it square for nice star edges

Bet it'll sit nicely on a FSQ with a 4" focuser