Arp 245 again

sjastro · #1 18-06-2008, 04:29 PM

I had another shot at this faint interacting galaxy pair to bring out the effects of the tidal forces.

A total of 8 hrs exposure which is extremely long by my standards.

http://users.westconnect.com.au/~sjastro/arp245c.html
(90% resolution).

Clear skies

Steven
http://users.westconnect.com.au/~sjastro/small

iceman (Mike) · #2 18-06-2008, 04:33 PM

Wow that's a really nice image, Steven. Very interesting and well presented.

strongmanmike (Michael) · #3 18-06-2008, 06:33 PM

Amazing pair that nice work.

Hey, I tought you weren't into long exposures Steve

Ah see?.. 8hrs today...16hrs tomorrow, soon you'll be in the 36hr club, it's inevitable I'm sorry .... soooo then you can enter the DM awards!

gregbradley · #4 18-06-2008, 07:48 PM

Great image Steven.

I'd love to hear a review of your BRC 250.

How do you like it?

Greg.

skeltz (Rob) · #5 18-06-2008, 08:33 PM

Looks great steve,nicely composed image!

spearo (Frank) · #6 18-06-2008, 08:52 PM

excellent!

frank

sjastro · #7 19-06-2008, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spearo

excellent!

frank

Thanks for your comments Frank.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rpsastronomy

Looks great steve,nicely composed image!

Thanks Rob.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Great image Steven.

I'd love to hear a review of your BRC 250.

How do you like it?

Greg.

Thanks Greg. Nice optics. The helical focuser is a pain to use. The most frustrating aspect is Takahashi not supplying spacers to provide the correct backfocus distance.

I will write a review on the BRC-250 time permitting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Amazing pair that nice work.

Hey, I tought you weren't into long exposures Steve

Ah see?.. 8hrs today...16hrs tomorrow, soon you'll be in the 36hr club, it's inevitable I'm sorry .... soooo then you can enter the DM awards!

Mike,

8 hrs exposure only to see the damn thing. To process and bring it up to a standard for submission would require about at least another 40 hrs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceman

Wow that's a really nice image, Steven. Very interesting and well presented.

Thanks for your comments Mike.

Clear skies to all.

Steven

ngcles · #8 19-06-2008, 03:00 PM

Hi Steven,

Congratulations -- excellent image. Love to see Arp galaxies in the ep and imaged.

Well done on taking up the challenge and doing obscure/faint/difficult/unusual!!

Best,

Les D
Contributing Editor
AS&T

Robert_T · #9 19-06-2008, 03:05 PM

Looks fabulous... this is one of the few inter-galactic views I've seen that communicates a feeling of movement... like two huge wrestlers grappling in space

gregbradley · #10 19-06-2008, 04:20 PM

Hi Steven,

Is that just a matter of getting Precise Parts to make something up?

I would attach an STL or Apogee U16M to one.

Greg.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjastro

Thanks for your comments Frank.

Thanks Rob.

Thanks Greg. Nice optics. The helical focuser is a pain to use. The most frustrating aspect is Takahashi not supplying spacers to provide the correct backfocus distance.

I will write a review on the BRC-250 time permitting.

Mike,

8 hrs exposure only to see the damn thing. To process and bring it up to a standard for submission would require about at least another 40 hrs.

Thanks for your comments Mike.

Clear skies to all.

Steven

Ric · #11 19-06-2008, 07:56 PM

Very nice indeed Steven, a fine interacting pair.

ARP galaxies are always a favourite to view.

Cheers

sjastro · #12 20-06-2008, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ric

Very nice indeed Steven, a fine interacting pair.

ARP galaxies are always a favourite to view.

Cheers

There a favourite of mine as well... and challenging.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Hi Steven,

Is that just a matter of getting Precise Parts to make something up?

I would attach an STL or Apogee U16M to one.

Greg.

I eventually got the spacer from Precise Parts. It was frustrating not being able to use the BRC straight out of the box.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert_T

Looks fabulous... this is one of the few inter-galactic views I've seen that communicates a feeling of movement... like two huge wrestlers grappling in space

Thanks Robert.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ngcles

Hi Steven,

Congratulations -- excellent image. Love to see Arp galaxies in the ep and imaged.

Well done on taking up the challenge and doing obscure/faint/difficult/unusual!!

Best,

Les D
Contributing Editor
AS&T

I appreciate your comments Les.

Regards to all.

Steven

Alchemy (Clive) · #13 20-06-2008, 07:13 PM

very well presented image, have had a look at your website in the past and you have done some lovely and varied work. Theres a huge number of galaxies there, ive never gone more than 3 hrs must have a crack at going longer just to see how much difference it makes. Always enjoy a look at your work

no-one else seems to have asked so i will- why the extra diffraction spike ? (the softer vertical one)

cheers clive

theodog (Jeff) · #14 21-06-2008, 07:34 AM

Very nice Arp

.

sjastro · #15 21-06-2008, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theodog

Very nice Arp

.

Thanks Jeff.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alchemy

very well presented image, have had a look at your website in the past and you have done some lovely and varied work. Theres a huge number of galaxies there, ive never gone more than 3 hrs must have a crack at going longer just to see how much difference it makes. Always enjoy a look at your work

no-one else seems to have asked so i will- why the extra diffraction spike ? (the softer vertical one)

cheers clive

The ST-10XME has a microlens over each individual pixel designed to increase quantum efficiency. For scopes with f-ratios less than 7 (such as the BRC-250), this can show up as an extra vertical spike. SBIG has software that can remove the spike but it doesn't bother me.

Clear skies

Steven

renormalised (Carl) · #16 21-06-2008, 09:51 AM

Steve, you want to avail yourself on purchasing the "Catalogue of Peculiar Galaxies" by Arp. Two volumes in size...costs $350, so you may have to save up for it. But you can use it to chase the galaxies down.

sjastro · #17 21-06-2008, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by renormalised

Steve, you want to avail yourself on purchasing the "Catalogue of Peculiar Galaxies" by Arp. Two volumes in size...costs $350, so you may have to save up for it. But you can use it to chase the galaxies down.

Thanks for that but I have my own free copy of "The Arp Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies" as being one of the contributors to the book.

Interestingly all the contributors have a biography and a picture of themselves in the book except for yours truly.

The US publishers refused to accept my picture or the original biography

. It wasn't an obscene picture and I certainly don't consider myself hideous enough to affect sales of the book.

They rewrote the biography by adding facts they obtained off the Internet.

I wasn't terribly impressed.

Regards

Steven

jase (Jason) · #18 21-06-2008, 02:09 PM

Great work Steven. Thanks for sharing this non-mainstream target. Sounds like a good challenge for some ultra long focal lengths. Well done.

renormalised (Carl) · #19 21-06-2008, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjastro

Thanks for that but I have my own free copy of "The Arp Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies" as being one of the contributors to the book.

Interestingly all the contributors have a biography and a picture of themselves in the book except for yours truly.

The US publishers refused to accept my picture or the original biography

. It wasn't an obscene picture and I certainly don't consider myself hideous enough to affect sales of the book.

They rewrote the biography by adding facts they obtained off the Internet.

I wasn't terribly impressed.

Regards

Steven

Why wouldn't they accept your picture or bio??!!! Sounds a bit crazy to me. And, what "facts" could they obtain off the internet?? Better getting the low down straight from the source than rely on hearsay.

sjastro · #20 21-06-2008, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by renormalised

Why wouldn't they accept your picture or bio??!!! Sounds a bit crazy to me. And, what "facts" could they obtain off the internet?? Better getting the low down straight from the source than rely on hearsay.

Looking at the pictures of the other contributors they do convey an aura of professionalism in contrast with me in torn jeans and Akruba hat.

Fortunately their extra facts proved accurate. For example they mentioned an image of mine that was published by the Vatican Observatory. I didn't include that in the original biography.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jase

Great work Steven. Thanks for sharing this non-mainstream target. Sounds like a good challenge for some ultra long focal lengths. Well done.

Thanks Jase.