The Devil's Mask in Pavo

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by E_ri_k

Awesome Mike, that's a great image! Does look like a twisted up mask, I like it That's a pretty faint set of galaxies right?

Erik

Cheers Erik

They are each around Mag 12.5 so not super bright but not faint either.

Mike

[astroron (Ron)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Cheers Erik

They are each around Mag 12.5 so not super bright but not faint either.

Mike

Observed them last night
Cheers

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Shiraz

well yeah, that's actually pretty darn good.
the promise of the 694 systems was that they should be able to produce a good good image of a faint fuzzy image in one night - looks like they can do it very nicely with a dark site. Regards ray

You got it 12" at F3.8 helps too of course

You will recall me always complaining about the rubbish seeing when I was imaging with the AG12 from Newcastle hence why I never imaged a galaxy from there Then the bloody wind from here at Wallaroo ... I (and I imagine some on lookers), thought at times that maybe I had purchased a bit of a lemon ..well while I was always pretty confident of the causes and always put it down to the bad seeing and then the wind, I too was starting to doubt it at times....well, not any more!! as they say, location, location, location he he he. This scope really is the imagers holy grail, with a big chip it can deliver wide expansive views AND then with small pixels it can also hammer resolution in close ups...perhaps I am finally truly happy

Mike

[Shiraz (Ray)]

the other thing your scope can do is planetary imaging - 300mm aperture is OK for that as well. all you need is a biggish Barlow and one of the new planet cams and away you go.

having a lot of trouble with sky transparency down here - during the day, the bits between the clouds look like pale blue milk, so reflected skyglow from Adelaide etc. is pretty bad at night - you have a nice dark site there I guess?

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Shiraz

the other thing your scope can do is planetary imaging - 300mm aperture is OK for that as well. all you need is a biggish Barlow and one of the new planet cams and away you go.

having a lot of trouble with sky transparency down here - during the day, the bits between the clouds look like pale blue milk, so reflected skyglow from Adelaide etc. is pretty bad at night - you have a nice dark site there I guess?

Yes, considered having a go at Planets but keep baulking at resetting everything. Once I have a system working I'm a bit loathed to change it around for a while.

Where I am is at 610m and just under 10km, as the crow flies, from the edge of suburban Canberra but that's good enough to render it a pretty good sky and be close enough to shop and drive to work etc

Mike

[Rod771 (Rod)]

Sensational image , wow!

It definitely holds its own against the VLT image

Very well done

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Beautiful Mike! Very impressive detail!

Cheers, Marcus

[cosmophoton (Luiz)]

Wonderful image Mike! The level of detail is impressive. The VLT people will apply for observing time in your telescope!
Cheers,
Luiz

[RickS (Rick)]

A great first galaxy target and an impeccable image, Mike! Very quick for a group of fairly dim galaxies, too. Great work

Cheers,
Rick.

[David Fitz-Henr]

That is superb Mike; lovely colour and detail!

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Rod771

Sensational image , wow!

It definitely holds its own against the VLT image

Very well done

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Beautiful Mike! Very impressive detail!

Cheers, Marcus

Originally Posted by cosmophoton

Wonderful image Mike! The level of detail is impressive. The VLT people will apply for observing time in your telescope!
Cheers,
Luiz

Originally Posted by RickS

A great first galaxy target and an impeccable image, Mike! Very quick for a group of fairly dim galaxies, too. Great work

Cheers,
Rick.

Originally Posted by David Fitz-Henr

That is superb Mike; lovely colour and detail!

Thanks guys glad you all liked it . The new gear and this image has me excited about the next session now

Mike

[Paul Haese]

Cool object, but it looks pretty low which makes the result pretty darn good. How far above the horizon was it for you? I am not sure I can get this in my current obs.

What does the full fame look like Mike? Would like to see it at full res or close to it.

[marco (Marco Lorenzi)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Ok kokay, here's a galaxy in fact three, all having a little dance

At 160 Million Ltyrs, the two spirals NGC 6769 and 6770 are very small galaxies on the sky, each measuring only about 2' in size so it was a real test of the resolution of the new system. The seeing varied across the 4+ hrs of Lum but at times it was actually pretty good too, so hallelujah .

The Devils Mask

Here are just his EYES

To help identify the little details better, here is a Comparison with 8m VLT image

Some super faint star streams linking the galaxies can be seen HERE

Hope you like

Mike

FANTASTIC image Mike, you are really producing great images with the new camera
Please keep sending them

Cheers
Marco

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by marco

FANTASTIC image Mike, you are really producing great images with the new camera
Please keep sending them

Cheers
Marco

Cheers Marco, yes the SX camera, OAG and Loadstar are pretty good to use on this scope

Mike

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

Cool object, but it looks pretty low which makes the result pretty darn good. How far above the horizon was it for you? I am not sure I can get this in my current obs.

No it's actually very high in the sky, it's in Pavo mate .

Mike

[madbadgalaxyman (Robert)]

Hi Mike,

as usual, the depth and resolution of your image is very good, which is why I am interested in your image, insofar as investigating what is going on in NGC 6771......this galaxy is - in its way - much more interesting and unusual than the two mildly distorted face-on spirals!

This edge-on S0 galaxy has an unusual bulge;
this is a "giant boxy/x-shaped bulge", and some modelling indicates that these giant boxy or x-shaped bulges may be the product of galaxy mergers. (some people call them "peanut shaped bulges"). There are plenty of these bulges in some clusters of galaxies, but their origin and nature is not fully understood!!

To save a lot of explanation, I discuss the various types of bulges in the "Observation Reports" forum thread called "AGCS 805 observed".....

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...=NGC+6771+boxy

In this thread, you can find pictures and isophotes of several galaxies which have very big and very rectangular bulges that sometimes simultaneously look X-shaped.
NGC 6771 is an excellent example of this morphology, a type of structure that is relatively common in some high-galaxy-density environments like galaxy clusters.

It might be interesting to see what your high-contrast image of NGC 6771 looks like, enlarged significantly , and at various levels of contrast.

The complexity of structure in these giant boxy bulges is hinted at in this image of N6771 from star shadows observatory (reproduced at two different levels of contrast):





Best regards,
Robert

[Ross G]

I love galaxy photos Mike and this is a great one.

Great colours and detail and, as always, you are spot on with your composition.

Ross.

[Paul Haese]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

No it's actually very high in the sky, it's in Pavo mate .

Mike

Ah that is cool. I read the dec at -60 and thought it might be lower than 5367 I did last year that was pretty low at -40. I will check out the area. I see there is a globular in the same area and I can fit that in the same field of view.

[gregbradley]

Great work Mike. Good too see the new setup working so well.

Greg.

[Stevec35 (Steve)]

I'm late chiming in with this one Mike but that's one extremely impressive galaxy picture!

Cheers

Steve