Leo Triplet Galaxies with a version showing integrated flux nebulas

gregbradley · #1 28-04-2011, 07:31 PM

I took my TEC180FL to my dark site over Easter. Clear skies every night despite rain in Sydney. It was quite windy 2 nights and I lost one night because of a silly dither plugin that became active in CCDSoft. I did not even know it was there. It somehow became active after a power failure and restart. Guiding then went bad. Anyway I eventually found it.

I got nearly over 5 hours before the moon came up but only could use 4:40 of it.

This is quite low in the northern sky but you can still see the tidal stream of stars on NGC3628.

TEC180FL, TEC Flattener, FLI Proline 16803, Tak NJP mount, Astrodon Gen 11 filters.

LRGB 130 30 60 60 (30 minutes of red was no good and was lost) all 1x1, 10 minute subs and -35C.

http://upload.pbase.com/gregbradley/...70783/original

http://upload.pbase.com/image/134286870 Leo Triplet showing galactic integrated flux nebula (interstellar nebula).

http://upload.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/134287375 inverted image

Greg.

marc4darkskies (Marcus) · #2 28-04-2011, 08:33 PM

A pretty shot Greg. I quite like the wide perspective. Did you use a reducer?

Cheers, Marcus

richardo (Rich) · #3 28-04-2011, 09:09 PM

This turned out excellent Greg!!
Superb flat background and smoothness, lots of faint galaxies.. and great that you picked up the tidal stream for a bonus.
This is a tree topper for me.. and probably only a little better for, so well done.

Wow, a 180mm apo for a traveling scope.. mm gotta love that!!

All the best
Rich

gregbradley · #4 28-04-2011, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

A pretty shot Greg. I quite like the wide perspective. Did you use a reducer?

Cheers, Marcus

Thanks Marcus. No that's native focal length. I was surprised too that it took in so much real estate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by richardo

This turned out excellent Greg!!
Superb flat background and smoothness, lots of faint galaxies.. and great that you picked up the tidal stream for a bonus.
This is a tree topper for me.. and probably only a little better for, so well done.

Wow, a 180mm apo for a traveling scope.. mm gotta love that!!

All the best
Rich

The 180 is relatively easy to handle for its size. It comes in a very handy case as well which makes it easier.

I am happy with how it turned out although of course it would always be good to have more exposure time. Its quite low in the sky and I would not normally image that low but its a great target.

strongmanmike (Michael) · #5 29-04-2011, 09:08 AM

Yeh great shot and excellent field Greg

It's nice and wide, is this the full frame?

Seeing the tidal tail is madatory to make a truly great Leo triplet image in my opinion so on ya

Maybe the galaxies look a bit blue though..?

Mike

gregbradley · #6 29-04-2011, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Yeh great shot and excellent field Greg

It's nice and wide, is this the full frame?

Seeing the tidal tail is madatory to make a truly great Leo triplet image in my opinion so on ya

Maybe the galaxies look a bit blue though..?

Mike

Thanks Mike. I'll check out the blue. Then again blue is the new white isn't it? hehehe

Greg.

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #7 29-04-2011, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Thanks Mike. I'll check out the blue. Then again blue is the new white isn't it? hehehe

Greg.

Fantastic work Greg.

TrevorW · #8 29-04-2011, 11:17 AM

Nice perspective Greg

well done

gregbradley · #9 29-04-2011, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrevorW

Nice perspective Greg

well done

Thanks Trev. I was surprised the setup took up so much territory. Its been a while since I used the TEC. Such a lovely scope. I also used it visually with binos and also a 8mm Ethos eyepiece. The Ethos was the best view. The binos are pleasant but they rob a tad of the valuable brightness. Saturn looked great.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

Fantastic work Greg.

Thanks JJ. I fixed up the blue hehehe

gregbradley · #10 29-04-2011, 01:51 PM

I processed this one some more to bring out the interstellar nebula referred to as the integrated flux nebula. I noticed it when I did the processing that it was there in the background so I did a version to bring it out. Also the tidal stream has been brought out more. Its pretty spectacular. I hope the Milky Way isn't losing stars like NGC3628 is!

http://upload.pbase.com/image/134286870 Leo Triplet showing galactic integrated flux nebula (interstellar nebula).

http://upload.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/134287375 inverted image
highlighting the flux nebula as well as the star tidal stream coming off of NGC3628. Something is robbing it of stars. Perhaps just out of view of the image.

There is also an interesting dual stream of nebula coming off that bright star in between the 3 galaxies.

Greg.

sadia · #11 29-04-2011, 04:13 PM

Nice one Greg, I haven't seen the mentioned interstellar nebula before on this. Definitely something that will inspire me in the future.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

I processed this one some more to bring out the interstellar nebula referred to as the integrated flux nebula. I noticed it when I did the processing that it was there in the background so I did a version to bring it out. Also the tidal stream has been brought out more. Its pretty spectacular. I hope the Milky Way isn't losing stars like NGC3628 is!

http://upload.pbase.com/image/134286870 Leo Triplet showing galactic integrated flux nebula (interstellar nebula).

http://upload.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/134287375 inverted image
highlighting the flux nebula as well as the star tidal stream coming off of NGC3628. Something is robbing it of stars. Perhaps just out of view of the image.

There is also an interesting dual stream of nebula coming off that bright star in between the 3 galaxies.

Greg.

Ric · #12 29-04-2011, 04:44 PM

Lovely work Greg.

A wonderful area of the night sky to image.

allan gould · #13 29-04-2011, 04:44 PM

Greg
Your processing really has brought out the interrelationships between these galaxies. Really excellent shot and I thought you would have to go deeper to bring out the extention but I can see it clearly in your first posting.
Really love it!

gregbradley · #14 29-04-2011, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sadia

Nice one Greg, I haven't seen the mentioned interstellar nebula before on this. Definitely something that will inspire me in the future.

Thanks Sadia. Its partly the very sensitive 16803 chip and partly the fabulous fluorite lens Yuri makes. I think this is why you pay the premium for the fluorite. It picks up just that little bit extra that gets lost through scatter. As you will find out with your fabulous TEC160FL, one of the best APOs ever made. We're lucky we got these large fluorite scopes. Yuri has already been told by Schott that they can't supply large fluorite blanks for the time being due to lack of orders. Hopefully they supply him in the future. This is what I always thought might happen. No 200ED, no 200 fluorite, no 160ED and now no large blanks for the 160 and 180 fluorite. They may end up being a very rare telescope like an AP180.

The dark skies are also indispensable.

I think a Paramount MX would be a good match for this scope or at least off axis guiding. The NJP is guiding great but the guide scope flexure is letting it down. I'd like to go 15 minute or 20 minute subs to reduce noise and go even deeper.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ric

Lovely work Greg.

A wonderful area of the night sky to image.

Thanks Ric. I was happy there was more in the image. Its hard to get the mega hours with work and weather so the dark skies and the scope's great lens makes it possible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by allan gould

Greg
Your processing really has brought out the interrelationships between these galaxies. Really excellent shot and I thought you would have to go deeper to bring out the extention but I can see it clearly in your first posting.
Really love it!

Thanks Allan. To get the flux to stand out a good flat and an even background is vital otherwise it gets lost in gradients and uneven backgrounds fluctuations and you can't tell what is what.

Fabiomax (Fabiomassimo) · #15 29-04-2011, 05:24 PM

Nice triplet Greg, the trail on 3628 l is still visible despite your problems during acquisition. Processing very natural, congratulations.
Cheers,
Fabiomax

multiweb (Marc) · #16 29-04-2011, 06:17 PM

Real nice details in there. Sharp as. That jet is interesting. What is it caused by?

gregbradley · #17 29-04-2011, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fabiomax

Nice triplet Greg, the trail on 3628 l is still visible despite your problems during acquisition. Processing very natural, congratulations.
Cheers,
Fabiomax

Thanks Fabio. I plan to go all off axis guiding in the future.

Quote:

Originally Posted by multiweb

Real nice details in there. Sharp as. That jet is interesting. What is it caused by?

Thanks Marc. There is a tidal stream of stars coming off NGC3628 (the hamburger looking galaxy). Not sure what is causing it though.

Greg.

RobF (Rob) · #18 29-04-2011, 10:06 PM

Great work Greg. Fascinating to see the flux neb coming through. You sure must have great skies out there.

gregbradley · #19 29-04-2011, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobF

Great work Greg. Fascinating to see the flux neb coming through. You sure must have great skies out there.

Thanks Rob.

I think overall they are very good skies. Often clear which is a big plus and almost zero light pollution. It can be windy at times. Seeing seems to be good and sometimes superb (especially in the cooler months).

Greg.

sadia · #20 29-04-2011, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

I think a Paramount MX would be a good match for this scope or at least off axis guiding. The NJP is guiding great but the guide scope flexure is letting it down. I'd like to go 15 minute or 20 minute subs to reduce noise and go even deeper.

Will you have enough back focus for an OAG from the flattener? I was thinking of an OAG as well but my initial calculation indicates I wont have enough space for a custom adapter to fit a MMOAG with STL11k + FW8. But you setup is different and I think TEC180FL field flattener has 85mm backfocus over TEC160FL's 78mm backfocus.

My sky at the moment limits me to 5min exposure unless doing narrow band. Sooner or later I will have to think joining a local astro club which will give me access to dark sites.