11 billion year old photons (red shift 2.369) - gravitational arc

[Octane (Humayun)]

That is astonishing. Colour me very impressed!

H

[markas (Mark)]

Marvelous, Ray! Very impressive

Mark

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

simply amazing, i had just assumed targets like this were out of range (resolution) for amateurs!

[Stevec35 (Steve)]

That's really impressive Ray!

Steve

[Martin Pugh]

Well done Sir!

cheers
Martin

[GUS.K (Ivan)]

Impressive capture.

[trent_julie]

Absolutely fantastic!

[Shiraz (Ray)]

Originally Posted by DJT

Ray, that is very, very cool. Well done

thanks David!

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Love your work. Clever and well executed

Thanks very much Peter

Originally Posted by Atmos

That is pretty damn awesome Ray!
My mother keeps suggesting that I do what Hubble did and just point my scope at the most unassuming patch of boring sky there is and see what pops up. I figure, why do that when there are gravitational arcs to be had!

It's images like this and the random stuff that Mike and Steve image that really push out of the norm in astro imaging

Thanks Colin. maybe your mother is right - perhaps we could all try to image one nondescript spot in the sky and combine our images - who knows what would show.

Originally Posted by andyc

That's brilliant - right up there with Rolf's go at the Einstein ring, and with a 10" scope too! I'm very impressed, that you found out about this, then had the patience to get enough good data. I think it's a lovely image too

This object is now on my target list, always wanted to image one of these. I'm actually surprised it's such a recent discovery as it's even visible on the DSS imagery on sky-map.org near IC4555. I guess it's a big sky, lots of places for stuff to hide!

thanks Andy. its obvious on DSS, but nobody ever looked there - most of the Southern sky is like that and we have a great opportunity to see new things - until the new large synoptic survey scope comes on line in 2022..

Originally Posted by Retrograde

This is phenomenal. I never knew you could even image such a thing.
Super impressive Ray!

Thanks Pete. this one is surprisingly easy to image - it is big and relatively bright.

Originally Posted by Merlin66

Ray,
Well done!
When I read the heading I thought for a moment you'd come over to the spectroscopy side!
Just earlier this month Robin Leadbeater managed to obtain the first amateur spectrum of such an object. He was using a C11 and a modified (200 l/mm) ALPY spectrograph.
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/...messages/13865

Naah, did enough spectroscopy of various types before I retired. Which object did Robin study?

Originally Posted by leon

Wow that is so good, fantastic effort indeed.

Leon

thanks Leon - glad you enjoyed it

Originally Posted by Placidus

That's so good it hurts. Brilliantly conceived and executed. Just wonderful.

thanks M&T - very much appreciated

Originally Posted by multiweb

Top shot Ray. Very interesting project and well done.

thanks Marc - it was good fun.

Originally Posted by RobF

Incredible work Ray. Thanks for sharing.

Hi Rob - thanks very much

Originally Posted by Merlin66

As Robin mentions - The broad UV emission lines from Lyman alpha, Si IV and C IV have been shifted at z =2.4 into the visible.

I agree, these objects make incredible targets for the amateur....

thanks Ken.

Originally Posted by atalas

Excellent work Ray

thanks very much Louie.

Originally Posted by Octane

That is astonishing. Colour me very impressed!

H

thanks very much H!

Originally Posted by markas

Marvelous, Ray! Very impressive

Mark

Thank you Mark.

Originally Posted by rustigsmed

simply amazing, i had just assumed targets like this were out of range (resolution) for amateurs!

Hi Russ. This one is fairly easy to access, although it is always down pretty low.

Originally Posted by Stevec35

That's really impressive Ray!

Steve

thanks a lot Steve - fun looking at different stuff isn't it?

Originally Posted by Martin Pugh

Well done Sir!

cheers
Martin

Thanks Martin - appreciate your comment.

cheers Ray

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

Ray,
Robin's object was:
The quadruple gravitationally lensed quasar J014709+463037
Keck telescope published data here
https://arxiv.org/abs/1707.05873

[Shiraz (Ray)]

Originally Posted by GUS.K

Impressive capture.

thanks Gus!

Originally Posted by trent_julie

Absolutely fantastic!

thanks guys - appreciated.

Originally Posted by Merlin66

Ray,
Robin's object was:
The quadruple gravitationally lensed quasar J014709+463037
Keck telescope published data here
https://arxiv.org/abs/1707.05873

thanks Ken. interesting that the quasar was at almost the same distance. What I find amazing is that the arc lens was so efficient that a fairly normal starburst galaxy can be seen at that distance - it didn't need the accretion disk/jet associated with a supermassive black hole.

cheers ray

[gregbradley]

That's a first for the amateur community, a gravitational lensing.

I would not have thought it was possible with amateur gear and only Hubble type territory.

Great work.

Greg.

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

Not to knock Ray's excellent work and admirable results, the spectra obtain by Robin I think was the first amateur result on a "gravitation lensed" object.

[Shiraz (Ray)]

Thanks Greg and Ken - wish it was, but this is not the first

Rolf posted an image on IIS of the arc in Abell2667 circa 2014?

I did the same in 2015 http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=139749 and there are other examples out there.

I think that this one is by far the biggest to date though. cheers

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

Ray,
Thanks for that.
I stand corrected........

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

That's just plain awesome Ray ... capturing 11B year old photons! Lots of fodder for contemplation there!

[Andy01 (Andy)]

Originally Posted by alocky

This has got to be the coolest thing I've seen! Gravitational lensing in an amateur image.
That's an astonishing result, even if it isn't pretty!

+1^

Originally Posted by Retrograde

This is phenomenal. I never knew you could even image such a thing.

Yep, truly astonishing!

Originally Posted by gregbradley

That's a first for the amateur community, a gravitational lensing. I would not have thought it was possible with amateur gear and only Hubble type territory.

You've certainly raised the bar with astro imaging science there Ray, certainly not "just a pretty picture!"

Hat's off to you!

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

Great stuff Ray. I'd never even thought of going for objects like this. Just goes to show what impressive stuff can be done if you step off the beaten track.
Geoff

[Paul Haese]

You certainly go for the extreme imaging targets Ray. That is ancient light. Made in stars long before that 11 billion years too. I wonder if there are life forms there now?

[Derek Klepp]

An excellent bit of science Ray if it wasn,t explained it reminds me of some of the lens aberrations I get when light enters at a varying angles of differing lenses.

[Shiraz (Ray)]

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

That's just plain awesome Ray ... capturing 11B year old photons! Lots of fodder for contemplation there!

Thanks Marcus - the age of this stuff really is something to contemplate isn't it.

Originally Posted by Andy01

+1^



Yep, truly astonishing!



You've certainly raised the bar with astro imaging science there Ray, certainly not "just a pretty picture!"

Hat's off to you!

Thanks Andy - appreciated

Originally Posted by Geoff45

Great stuff Ray. I'd never even thought of going for objects like this. Just goes to show what impressive stuff can be done if you step off the beaten track.
Geoff

thanks Geoff. after battling for weeks to find enough clear sky at the SCP (which is just above the wall of my obs), i wondered f I should have bothered. When the faint arc began to appear in the integration though, it was all worthwhile

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

You certainly go for the extreme imaging targets Ray. That is ancient light. Made in stars long before that 11 billion years too. I wonder if there are life forms there now?

that's a good point Paul - the galaxy itself was a fairly ordinary one, so it must have formed quite a bit earlier still. Blimey.

Originally Posted by Derek Klepp

An excellent bit of science Ray if it wasn,t explained it reminds me of some of the lens aberrations I get when light enters at a varying angles of differing lenses.

thanks Derek. Not a very high quality lens, but it is way bigger than the milky way, so quantity stands for something.

Cheers Ray