6 hour deep Centaurus A

[tornado33]

Hi all
last night I did my deepest ever imaging run. 6 Hours on Cantaurus A with the 6 inch f3.6 SN, inspired by Mike's award winning effort

36x10 mins ISO 200. MPCC coma corrector Unfiltered. Modded 350D meade 6 inch f3.6 Cometracker SN

Imaging run hand guided throughout.

Gradients and light pollution were of course a big hassle

Larger version here

Can definately see the extended "lobes" either side of Centaurus A. Im happy to be able to get that from my urban location. One saving grace, it was rather cool so thermal noise wasnt a big problem
Scott

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

It's gorgeous Scott.

[DavidU (Dave)]

Mate ! 6 hours hand guided ! Gawd.
Great image.

[h0ughy (David)]

its a tad yellowish Scott but what an awesome effort, that image is truely a GOLDEN effort. How did you go dodging those clouds that came through last night?

[gregbradley]

The long exposure paid off eh? Good shot. Its something a lot of use have to overcome to get the good shots - putting the time in on one shot only. Hard to do when there are so many interesting targets.
Its a patience thing. I find it a bit hard to do at times.

Greg.

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

My neck is hurting just reading about your 6 hour marathon guiding effort...great result, that too from a suburban location

[h0ughy (David)]

thanks for the data Scott - i will give it a try tonight - the cloud is rolling in now so imaging tonight might be out, so reproing some great data will make for a change

[h0ughy (David)]

well here it is Scott - gave it a go hope its allright. Fantastic deep data!

[tornado33]

Thanks all
Yep, Dave its a more natural white there in the core
Scott

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Another great Cen A effort Scott, I didn't think it possible to reveal the hockey stick shape from Newie with a 6" and DSLR but seems you have done it mate....looks like you had to push process the hell out of it though - might even have extracted a bit of galactic cirrus there but it's hard to tell as I am gathering there were a good deal of gradients to deal with?.. never the less a top job

Mike

[StellariuS (Jayden)]

Mate.. that is awesome! You doing this with manual tracking has kinda erased the urgency for me to get motor drives. It would make something like that a bigger achievement. Id love to pull that of with my F/5 6", would it be possible?

Great image and inspiration.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Scott,

Excellent work. And, hand guiding as usual, yikes!

H

[tornado33]

Thanks everyone. Thankfully gradients werent too bad, as with the Merdian flip it didnt all happen on one side of the finished image, Gradient Xterminator was able to handle it okay.

I sit back in a comfy office chair next to the scope, with the DEC slow motion hand control within reach, drive corrector RA control in my hands, and watch the guidestar on the laptop, with ditital TV in a window on, or listening to JJJ or the footy on the radio depending on what time it is and whats on. Every now and then I will pause proceedings to nip inside for a cuppa or snack.

For obvious reasons I only do marathon imaging runs like this on Friday or Saturday nights as I work mon-fri.

Its amazing how much darker the sky here gets after around 11 pm or midnight, it seems as if a fair bit of lighting gets turned off. Subs earlier in the night but after astronomical twilight are somewhat lighter than ones taken later on or in the morning hours.
Scott

[richardo (Rich)]

Nice work Scott,
your diligence in capturing a good deal of data certainly paid off.
I like the business of the intense star field your fov brings to this majestic galaxy.

Nicely done!

Rich