Dancing Galaxies

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

As some of you will have read in my ranting about my wind problem () in the general chat section ..I did finally get some good sky conditions, with little to no wind and reasonable seeing although the transparency was average to poor and I battled high cloud on night 1, so this is compiled using the best 5hrs or so of 8hrs of Luminance collected over the two nights, one with rather a lot of wind and some high cloud the other quite clear, steady and still (although a bit washed out)

This relatively rare set of circumstances called for a shot at something with fine details in it and some faint bits. So what better than the best, or at least most famous, example of interacting galaxies in the sky - The Antennae Galaxies in Corvus

Here is a 100% resolution crop of the main event:

Dancing Galaxies

Here is a Wider View at 80% resolution

The Antennae

A super high res close up:

Love Heart in Space

Here is a Hubble comparison to help identify the structures of the two merging galaxy cores picked up in my data

Hubble Comparison

And the full frame image in negative to show the faint details

Antennae in negative

Please note, no manual local enhancements (lasso etc) were applied to the antennae streams, this is how they came out of the camera after applying ddp and global stretching.

In the end after thinking I would be thwarted by the elements..I am quite happy with the result

Mike

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Yowza!! You're pushing it hard by the looks Mike but that's very cool !! Great detail and I love the antenae!

Cheers, Marcus

[Larryp (Laurie)]

That's superb, Mike. You've captured so much detail

[Stevec35 (Steve)]

Think you've done well with this one Mike. Nice shot.

Cheers

Steve

[RickS (Rick)]

A great image, Mike, although I reckon this target would benefit from a longer focal length or smaller pixels. Maybe that new camera of yours will do the trick?

Cheers,
Rick.

[Sarge (Rod)]

I agree - absolutely superb! Fantastic pic Mike.

Clear skies

Rod

[cybereye (Mario)]

Fantastic - bugger all noise and nice and vivid!

Cheers,
Mario

PS I've been practicing my opera - "Figaro, Figaro, Feeeegaroooooo!!!"

[Saturn%5 (Graeme)]

Super work Mike.

[jsmoraes (Jorge)]

Wow ! Great ! Very nice !

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Great shot Mike, I'm a big Antennae fan myself. It was the first target I aimed for when my QSI arrived, lol
That's a lot of details for a relatively short amount of time. I trust we can expect an ultra deep field version once your dome is up.

[Lee]

Nicely done.... it's amazing how much extra detail can be grabbed with a 2.4m mirror, and $10b.... (and no wind!)

[gregbradley]

Nice image Mike. You're becoming a bit of an inyourface type processor eh? That's totally fine and its high impact.

Again you capture a lot of detail.

Perhaps your ICX694 chipped camera would have done even better than the Proline here.

Greg.

[SpaceNoob (Chris)]

wow! crazy detail, very cool :-)

[rogerg (Roger)]

Very interesting ... nice

I must get back to taking some pretty-picture galaxy photo's

[David Fitz-Henr]

Great detail Mike and the comparison with Hubble shows the detail to be accurate as well! ... as for the wind, haven't you got permission to erect your dome yet ?? D'ya want some of the lads to come 'round and sort the landlord out?

[Lee]

I can't believe the images you get without a permanent setup Mike.... How you get set up, plugged in, aligned and imaging in a night is beyond me...

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Yowza!! You're pushing it hard by the looks Mike but that's very cool !! Great detail and I love the antenae!

Cheers, Marcus

Yes, trying to make an impact, same'ol samo is so boring

Originally Posted by Larryp

That's superb, Mike. You've captured so much detail

Cheers Lozza, if the conditions hold (), this scope can deliver both high res and wide field = imaging nirvana .

Originally Posted by Stevec35

Think you've done well with this one Mike. Nice shot.

Cheers

Steve

Thanks Steve, I endured a bit to put this together though

Originally Posted by RickS

A great image, Mike, although I reckon this target would benefit from a longer focal length or smaller pixels. Maybe that new camera of yours will do the trick?

Cheers,
Rick.

Of course, bigger and longer focal length would be great on this target for sure...buuuut we use what we have huh Having said that and after perusing many Antennae images on the web, there are few amateur versions that do much better

Originally Posted by Sarge

I agree - absolutely superb! Fantastic pic Mike.

Clear skies

Rod

Cheers Rodster ...you like galaxies huh?

Originally Posted by cybereye

Fantastic - bugger all noise and nice and vivid!

Cheers,
Mario

PS I've been practicing my opera - "Figaro, Figaro, Feeeegaroooooo!!!"

Great Mario, I sing all day in my delivery vehicles, perhaps we could go for a drive one day, at least we can keep our inevitable dulcet tones private then

Originally Posted by Saturn%5

Super work Mike.

Cheers Graeme

Originally Posted by jsmoraes

Wow ! Great ! Very nice !

Thanks Jorge

Originally Posted by SkyViking

Great shot Mike, I'm a big Antennae fan myself. It was the first target I aimed for when my QSI arrived, lol
That's a lot of details for a relatively short amount of time. I trust we can expect an ultra deep field version once your dome is up.

Thanks Rolfy baby, you bet, this scope hasn't really got out of about second gear yet ...it kills my former 6" Starfire for photon munching power

Originally Posted by Lee

Nicely done.... it's amazing how much extra detail can be grabbed with a 2.4m mirror, and $10b.... (and no wind!)

Yes, I was going to go all the way up to a..?...16" myself

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Nice image Mike. You're becoming a bit of an inyourface type processor eh? That's totally fine and its high impact.

Again you capture a lot of detail.

Perhaps your ICX694 chipped camera would have done even better than the Proline here.

Greg.

Cheers Greg

In your face..? maybe I dunno? All depends on what your eye perceives I guess? We saw and heard all the variations with Berts Eta data huh? In the end it comes down to decorating choices, actually I found some images of the Antennae taken by some big names with big scopes and thought they looked a little lack luster and boring ...so perhaps my eye is just craving some sparkle these days...like my sex life

Originally Posted by SpaceNoob

wow! crazy detail, very cool :-)

Cheers Chris

Originally Posted by rogerg

Very interesting ... nice

I must get back to taking some pretty-picture galaxy photo's

Yes you should, get some of that sparkle back they look better than B&W smudges

Originally Posted by David Fitz-Henr

Great detail Mike and the comparison with Hubble shows the detail to be accurate as well! ... as for the wind, haven't you got permission to erect your dome yet ?? D'ya want some of the lads to come 'round and sort the landlord out?

Cheers Fitzy

Yes comparing to Hubble really consolidates what you actually have (or have not) showing in your own image

He he nah, just waiting on the dosh to do it all....I have become a winger huh?

Originally Posted by Lee

I can't believe the images you get without a permanent setup Mike.... How you get set up, plugged in, aligned and imaging in a night is beyond me...

He he, well these days with the scope in my own back yard I do have the NJP mount setup and aligned under some bags so although the rest of the gizmo setup is still a little involved (and a deterant at times) it is much better than what I have endured in the past ...did I mention my wind issues...?

Mike

[asimov (John)]

Lovely work, Mike!

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by asimov

Lovely work, Mike!

Cheers John, glad you liked it

Mike

[Star Catcher (Ted Dobosz)]

Nice work Mike, always tough to get the extent of the arms.
Ted