UFO? Nah...just M104

[skeltz (Rob)]

Nice image pete, pity and yes you can all shoot me down in flames,that with all the premuim gear ,you still have star elongation .
Sorry if i don,t conform to the herd..but just my 2 bobs worth.
chhers all

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by rpsastronomy

Nice image pete, pity and yes you can all shoot me down in flames,that with all the premuim gear ,you still have star elongation .
Sorry if i don,t conform to the herd..but just my 2 bobs worth.
chhers all

How did you determine this?

I think the tracking was pretty good....but given the number of layers in the image, it is possible the registration on some stars is less than perfect...then again some stars are binaries...

[gregbradley]

Some of the stars are round and quite a few are egg shaped but then it is cropped so even small tracking errors will show up.

It is true some binaries unresolved can look like egg shaped stars but then there are too many for that.

I think it is a very minor point and does not detract from the image.

Perfect round stars may be ideal but can be overemphasised as a necessity (says he who rarely has perfectly round stars )

Greg.

[spearo (Frank)]

Jeeeesh!
I just had to go back and have another look
there's ONE star slightly right of center above the red one that perhaps isn't 100% round, perhaps? Otherwise....99.9 of the other seem perfectly round to me.
There's constructive criticism and then there's constructive criticism...
frank

[peter andre (Peter andre)]

Just unbelievably beautiful!

[bokglob (Darrell)]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW

[AlexN]

Fantastic data indeed Peter.. I think its got to be in your top 5...

[KISA (Markus)]

An absolutely amazing photo. Well done.

[Inmykombi (Geoff)]

What a beautiful target you have imaged there Peter.
You have done it complete justice as well. I have never seen such detail on the outer edge as that image shows.

Well done indeed.

Geoffro.

[Peter Ward]

On the subject of "eggy stars" there are a few: it may be intrinsic to my data (about 1/3 of all stars are binaries) or it may be my less than perfect stacking of...oh....about 60+ layers.....but I'm tending to put more faith in the capture hardware than my post capture processing skills..

I am surprised by the number of very positive responses this image has invoked. Thank you indeed! one and all....even the eagle eyed egg evaluators.

[Craig_L]

I love eggs. Soft boiled. Fabulous image!

[scopemankit (Chris)]

A stunning image. Such detail is normally associated with the HST and some of the S American giant scopes.

[dpastern (Dave Pastern)]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Thanks Doug! ....but I'm just a hack compared to this

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0803..._peris2048.jpg

Can I be a hack too?

Wonderful shot and detail. That's one of the best 'amateur' shots of it that I've seen.

Dave

[DENMONKEY (Brett)]

Bloody beautiful mate, one of the nicest shots I've seen.

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Wow,

You have got to submit this for the CWAS Astrofest David Malin awards.

Its that good.

Cheers

Chris

[Jen]

woah that is such a beautiful picture Peter i bet that is one pic that will be blown up and put on your wall
You should be very proud of that one nice work keep em coming

by the way what sort of scope and cam are you using?

[StarGazing (Alex)]

Wow Peter ......... Just @$#%#@ WOW is all I can say. .

If this was for sale as a poster I would buy it.

I am a visual observer and enjoy the beauty of the night sky but you guys keep taking such amazing photos that I get the bug to start the expensive hobby of photography .

Luv the photo Peter, keep up the great work mate.

Best of luck with your photography.

Alex.