The Large Magellanic Cloud distorted barred spiral

gregbradley · #1 10-09-2011, 12:56 PM

Another lens widefield image.

This one is 3 hours 10 minutes at F2.8 at my dark site.

I wanted to show the fact that the LMC is a distorted barred spiral and the large sweeping arm at the bottom swings around. You can see some halo above it as well.

LMC widefield, Pentax 67 165mm 2.8, Proline 16803:

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/137923433 regular

http://upload.pbase.com/image/137923433 large

Inverted image shows even more the sweeping arm (colour core for orientation),

The Milky Way has distorted this arm. With a bit of imagination some of that arm
appears to be sweeping back towards the Milky Way or towards the viewer that is.

http://upload.pbase.com/image/137936031

Greg.

CometGuy · #2 10-09-2011, 01:06 PM

Greg,

What a great image! It definitely shows the structure very clearly. Thanks for posting.

Terry

gregbradley · #3 10-09-2011, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CometGuy

Greg,

What a great image! It definitely shows the structure very clearly. Thanks for posting.

Terry

Thanks Terry.

Greg.

Ross G · #4 10-09-2011, 03:33 PM

A beautiful widefield photo Greg.

The Pentax lens seems very sharp.

Thanks.

Ross.

Peter Ward · #5 10-09-2011, 09:51 PM

Very nice twist to a well known object. Good one

Stevec35 (Steve) · #6 10-09-2011, 10:26 PM

That's a beauty Greg! You've got to love those dark sky sites. Wish I had one.

Cheers

Steve

alexch (Alex) · #7 11-09-2011, 12:16 AM

Excellent image indeed. Very detailed and nicely framed! Thanks for the view.

Big Dave (Dave) · #8 11-09-2011, 07:23 AM

Looks great, a hard object to get looking like that.

Alchemy (Clive) · #9 11-09-2011, 08:09 AM

Seems you have produced the evidence to your statement quite well.

You've even got some dust showing up over the main bar, which I don't particularly remember being aware of previously.

Lots of nice targets for the larger scope enthusiast in there too, a nice reference image.

gregbradley · #10 11-09-2011, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ross G

A beautiful widefield photo Greg.

The Pentax lens seems very sharp.

Thanks.

Ross.

Yes it seems to be quite good. Better overall than the 55mm F4.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Very nice twist to a well known object. Good one

Cheers Peter. It is a familiar target. I have seen a few images of it that show that wider spiral arm feature and I wanted to get more of that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stevec35

That's a beauty Greg! You've got to love those dark sky sites. Wish I had one.

Cheers

Steve

The dark site is great. Just the travel and setup means you have to be assured of a few days of clear weather to make it worthwhile. I've been caught out many times, especially about 2 years ago when it seemed to be endlessly cloudy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexch

Excellent image indeed. Very detailed and nicely framed! Thanks for the view.

Thanks Alex.

Greg.

desler · #11 11-09-2011, 09:56 AM

Yep, that's a ripper, well done Greg.

Darren

gregbradley · #12 11-09-2011, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by desler

Yep, that's a ripper, well done Greg.

Darren

Thanks Darren.

This little 165mm lens is quite good although it needs a correcting filter I think. There is a bit of chromatic aberration I have to correct in the processing. Mainly though its just the bright stars come out magenta.

Greg.

Hagar (Doug) · #13 11-09-2011, 01:27 PM

Nice one Greg. The centre of the cloud could maybe be toned down a bit to allow the structure in the core area to show through a little more.

gregbradley · #14 11-09-2011, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hagar

Nice one Greg. The centre of the cloud could maybe be toned down a bit to allow the structure in the core area to show through a little more.

Thanks Dougie. Yes it is a bit bright.

Greg.

atalas · #15 11-09-2011, 05:19 PM

Totally agree Greg...fantastic seeing the LMC's shape...great shot.

OICURMT · #16 11-09-2011, 05:54 PM

One of the coolest images I've seen of the LMC... nice job

strongmanmike (Michael) · #17 11-09-2011, 06:05 PM

Not bad huh? You have certainly pushed it over the top a little, so you have lost some finer details but the result is the sweeping "arm" under the galaxy is visible nicely and coupled with this orientation, does give a less than conventional appearance to the shape of the galaxy - cool

Mike

Lester · #18 11-09-2011, 06:13 PM

Wonderful view Greg. The FOV of the lens frames the LMC and its outer faint structure well. Thanks for the view.

gregbradley · #19 11-09-2011, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by atalas

Totally agree Greg...fantastic seeing the LMC's shape...great shot.

Thanks Louie.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OICURMT

One of the coolest images I've seen of the LMC... nice job

Gee thanks. It did turn out more vibrant than I thought it would.

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Not bad huh? You have certainly pushed it over the top a little, so you have lost some finer details but the result is the sweeping "arm" under the galaxy is visible nicely and coupled with this orientation, does give a less than conventional appearance to the shape of the galaxy - cool

Mike

Yes it is pushed but I wanted as you point out to show the shape of it more than anything. You can see the interaction occurring with the Milky Way Galaxy like we see in these other Ken Crawford style images.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lester

Wonderful view Greg. The FOV of the lens frames the LMC and its outer faint structure well. Thanks for the view.

Cheers Lester.

Greg.

Tom Davis (Tom) · #20 12-09-2011, 12:57 AM

That is EXCELLENT!! What a great image!

Tom