NGC 247 Needle's Eye Galaxy & Burbidge's Chain in Cetus

[naskies (Dave)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Viva the Sidonio'd data

ah that Centaurus A image will haunt me to my grave

Better being infamous than unknown, as they say

Originally Posted by DavidTrap

I love the detail in the galaxies, but can't help feeling distracted by the surrounding stars, especially the orange ones. Maybe Rogelio's star reduction tool might help?

DT

Thanks David. Yep, I agree the stars need work - luckily with HDR combine they're not saturated except for one or two. Just have to figure out how to control them better... something else to cover during the knitting circle!

Originally Posted by Shiraz

Crikey Dave, that's excellent. This is a very dim object and you have lots of fine detail in there. Suspect that the minor issues with stars will disappear when you get time to reprocess, but for me this image is about the galaxy anyway, not the stars. all the best with exams. regards Ray

Thanks Ray! Before shooting this, the only example that I could find on Google Images aside ESO's was Marco Lorenzi's magnificent effort. It's definitely an under-appreciated target!

Originally Posted by jase

Fantastic image Dave. Such an impressive galaxy and you've nailed it very well. Adore the background galaxies adding an extra dimension. Good to see an tradition true colour image in your portfolio as you make the most of the unpolluted Leyburn skies. Top work.

Thanks Jase! LRGB data is a lot of fun to play with... I just wish it involved less effort (packing/camping) to capture it. I'll be living closer to dark-ish skies next year, so hopefully my plans to convert my car into a portable / rapid set up imaging station will bear fruit.

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

Nice Dave, great detail and the background chain of galaxies really makes the scene. Now on the front of my imaging list.

Thanks Paul! I look forward to seeing what you can pull off with your Battle Tank

[multiweb (Marc)]

Really cool shot Dave. Love the colors.

[Stevec35 (Steve)]

That's one of the nicest shots I've seen of this galaxy Dave -well done! I have to say the stars look a bit funny though.

Cheers

Stev

[astronobob (Bob)]

Massive effort & a great result with the Galaxy Dave Also dig the interesting field with the chain, a very capturing image/target ! So credit for finding the scene there, Top show &
All the best with your Studies Dave

[naskies (Dave)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Really cool shot Dave. Love the colors.

Thanks Marc!

Originally Posted by Stevec35

That's one of the nicest shots I've seen of this galaxy Dave -well done! I have to say the stars look a bit funny though.

Cheers

Stev

Thanks Steve. I'm saving the stars for a rainy day repro

Originally Posted by astronobob

Massive effort & a great result with the Galaxy Dave Also dig the interesting field with the chain, a very capturing image/target ! So credit for finding the scene there, Top show &
All the best with your Studies Dave

Thanks Bob! Hope you've been getting plenty of fun out of your new camera.

[Nicola (Nicola)]

Excellent image data and processing. The AO seems doing a good job.

[Ross G]

Great looking galaxy photo Dave.

So much detail.

32 hours...wow!


Ross.

[naskies (Dave)]

Originally Posted by Nicola

Excellent image data and processing. The AO seems doing a good job.

Thanks Nicola! Yes, the AO does work a treat - very pleasant surprise to find that star roundness on my EQ6 is no longer a concern even with a night's worth of consecutive 60 min subs on both sides of the meridian.

Re-centering targets on consecutive nights (even with plate solving), however...

Originally Posted by Ross G

Great looking galaxy photo Dave.

So much detail.

32 hours...wow!


Ross.

Thanks Ross! Mega data never hurts with such faint galaxies

[stevous67 (Steve M)]

Ditto to all the above, beautiful galaxy with interesting background objects to peruse. Well done!

Steve

[iceman (Mike)]

Very nice image, Dave. This is now IOTW.

[naskies (Dave)]

Originally Posted by stevous67

Ditto to all the above, beautiful galaxy with interesting background objects to peruse. Well done!

Steve

Thanks Steve

Originally Posted by iceman

Very nice image, Dave. This is now IOTW.

Thanks Mike - I'm honoured!

[Meru (Michael)]

Stunning effort as always Dave, always inspires me with my own RC8 & 8300 chip!

[RobF (Rob)]

Originally Posted by iceman

Very nice image, Dave. This is now IOTW.

Yay!!!

[RickS (Rick)]

Congrats, Dave!

[Lee]

That's a fantastic image Dave - the little cluster off to the side steals the show for me.... I reckon even the individual subs would look great....

[DJT (David)]

Congrats on IOTW. Great capture!

[MLParkinson (Murray)]

The stars have an excellent coma-free quality across the entire image. Is this the full frame or did you crop the image to eliminate coma and aberrations? I want to know because the GSO RC reflectors are an affordable option. However, I would not want to buy one if the optics are second rate. What do you think of the optics?

[naskies (Dave)]

Thanks meru, Rob, Rick, Lee & David!

Originally Posted by MLParkinson

The stars have an excellent coma-free quality across the entire image. Is this the full frame or did you crop the image to eliminate coma and aberrations? I want to know because the GSO RC reflectors are an affordable option. However, I would not want to buy one if the optics are second rate. What do you think of the optics?

Hi Murray, it's a Ritchey-Chretien scope so there's field curvature but no coma. This image would be about 80-90% of the full frame (imperfect target re-acquisition on one of the nights), but field curvature is minimal on a 14x18 mm chip.

I like it because it lets me image the tiny faint stuff without the otherwise huge price tag Paul Haese has written a couple of great reviews of the RC8 and RC12.

Pros: RC8 is very cheap ($/inch aperture), CF version is thermally stable, very light (I can carry the OTA + full image train easily in one hand), huge 230+ mm back focus for OAG + AO + rotator etc or focal reduction, holds collimation really well, short tube doesn't act as a wind sail.

Cons: slow at f/8 (but the AP CCDT67 focal reducer works well at f/5.6), long focal length (1625 mm on RC8) takes very careful guiding on a good mount/AO to get round stars, the included focuser is useless for anything above a DSLR, and there's no native field flattener for larger chips.

[Asso (Brett)]

fabulous image Dave, was well worth the effort.

[firstlight (Tony)]

Well deserved IOTW. Congrats Dave.