Antennae Galaxies Extreme Deep Field - 75 Hours

[graham.hobart (Graham stevens)]

stunning stuff Rolf.

The bar just keeps getting higher here in IIS.
Cheers
Graham

[Eden (Brett)]

This is really something special, absolutely stunning. It goes to show what you can achieve when you trade in short term gain for long term results!

[Stevec35 (Steve)]

Pushing the boundaries yet again Rolf! Another outstanding image extremely well processed. Well done once more!

Steve

[Regulus (Trevor)]

Wonderful image Rolf.

[Paul Haese]

Well done Rolf. Nicely mega'ed up. Great detail and colour.

[Leonardo70 (Leonardo Orazi)]

Wonderful Rolf, congrats.

All the best,
Leo

[alpal]

That's a great epic work Rolf,
It's hard to know if you see stars or galaxies in the background -
there are so many fuzzy patches in there.

I look forward to your next masterpiece.

cheers
Allan

[Octane (Humayun)]

Absolutely awesome!

H

[Peter Ward]

Oh dear...that is the money-shot....sublime in every respect.

The only question I'd have is: how on earth do you get so many clear nights!

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Nah, your standards are slipping there, Rolf...

What happened? NZ weather not helping? Poor equipment? Mental blank?



Pretty bloody awesome, mate!

[atalas]

Great work Rolf!

[acarleton (Aidan)]

Amazing !

[Shiraz (Ray)]

great work Rolf. The depth is very impressive and really brings out the small galaxies in the background - well done.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Top shot there Rolf; an incredibly deep field being your reward for your mega-efforts
I've just collected data for this object as well and am about to process it ... but it is mini-data compared with your effort here

[astronobob (Bob)]

Stunning image & excellent Post Rolf - Hmmmff, I did not know this was a Southern object - keool

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by David Fitz-Henr

Top shot there Rolf; an incredibly deep field being your reward for your mega-efforts
I've just collected data for this object as well and am about to process it ... but it is mini-data compared with your effort here

Ah yes, but... you do have a Bunyip on your side

Mike

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Originally Posted by rmuhlack

Spectacular image Rolf ! A first class write-up too, you've certainly done your homework there

Thank you Richard, there's a lot to say about these interesting colliding galaxies so I probably barely scraped the surface with the write-up

Originally Posted by cometcatcher

Spectacular imaging Rolf!

How many of these long hour projects do you have running concurrently?

Thanks Kevin, no concurrent mega-projects although I do try to collect as much data on the side as well e.g. when the main target is too low or has set while it is still dark then I switch to another secondary target.

Originally Posted by gregbradley

A wonderful image Rolf. You top the class for long exposure and it pays off handsomely.

Greg.

Thanks very much Greg, it does pay off to collect such large amounts of data but a bit of planning is necessary

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Excellent work Rolf...been waiting to see this one and you didn't disappoint

Some deep (patient) imaging there and very interesting compilation too

Love the collection of background faint fuzzies, would make a nice wall artwork.

The thing I like here is you have gone very long in exposure but are not anal about getting low noise levels, the super depth and details are more important and make the image what it is, great stuff.

Cheers

Mike

Thanks Mike, how did you know...?

Yeah I'm not a fan of a totally super smooth background either. I think too much noise reduction looks less appealing than a little bit of background noise. In this image I didn't apply much noise control at all, only a bare minimum. I think it looks more 'real' this way, but that's completely subjective of course

The wealth of background galaxies is my favourite feature too. I think that collage will become a poster soon

Originally Posted by prokyon

Stunning work! And what a perfect presentation with very interesting information. Great collage!

Thank you Werner, the collage was good fun to put together, although rather time consuming with over 200 tiles.

Originally Posted by xelasnave

Wonderful
Love the result and the story
Thank you

Thanks very much Alex!

Originally Posted by Kunama

Spectacular imaging Rolf ................ just Superb !!!!!!!

Thank you, it was hard work but worth it

Originally Posted by RB

Absolutely stunning work Rolf.
I'm going to view it again latter on my big screen, just to soak it all in.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew, the bigger the screen the better the view

Originally Posted by Mighty_oz

Amazing image as usual, such dedication to one object sure pays off
Thanks for showing us all.

Marcus

Thank you Marcus, i'm glad you enjoyed it!

Originally Posted by speach

magnificence, think I'll give up now before I really start.

Cheers Simon, don't give up!

Originally Posted by RickS

A stunning result, Rolf! Definitely worth all that hard work and dedication.

Thank you Rick, yes I think it's worth it. This one was giving me more grief than CenA though because of the poor weather.

Originally Posted by DJT

Awesome image, Rolf and a great write-up. Very interesting.

Cheers David, they are interesting and photogenic galaxies for sure

Originally Posted by pvelez

Rolf, that is a truly breathtaking piece of work. If we had a kudos button on IIS, I'd probably break it for pressing it so hard.

What's next for the RO treatment?

Pete

Thanks very much Pete. No mega-project is in the pipeline at the moment. I'll withdraw for a while and consider the options I think
I do have some other data collected on the side that I need to process, so that will keep me busy.

Originally Posted by Rod771

Wonderful image and presentation.

I was on the Ipad when I came across your post, I ran straight over and turned the pc on, fantastic! Your effort and dedication really shows in your work Rolf. I really enjoyed this, thanks for sharing.

Rod

Thank you Tod, I'm glad you liked the image

Originally Posted by multiweb

+1 Top shelf Rolf.

Thank you Marc!

Originally Posted by E_ri_k

Absolutely fantastic! Nice compilation of images, and fantastic amount of detail in there.

Well done

Erik

Thanks Erik, I was happy with the details, and resolution too. I think it's fairly decent for a 12.5".

Originally Posted by xelasnave

Have you ever considered a deep field attempt covering area in Hubble deep field

Cheers Alex, yes I have actually, just haven't got around to trying it yet.

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Outstanding Rolf! And what a great presentation too - gathering all those faint fuzzies together is pretty cool!

Cheers, Marcus

Thanks very much Marcus, the galaxy collage is my favourite

Originally Posted by rustigsmed

awesome work Rolf!
definitely worth all the effort!

Cheers,

Rusty

Thanks Rusty!

Originally Posted by graham.hobart

stunning stuff Rolf.

The bar just keeps getting higher here in IIS.
Cheers
Graham

Thank you Graham, I think we all learn from each other here. I certainly do.

Originally Posted by Eden

This is really something special, absolutely stunning. It goes to show what you can achieve when you trade in short term gain for long term results!

Thanks very much, yes patience does pay off when it comes to astrophotography

Originally Posted by Stevec35

Pushing the boundaries yet again Rolf! Another outstanding image extremely well processed. Well done once more!

Steve

Thank you Steve, I like to push the boundaries a little Only downside it that it took 6 months to take this image

Originally Posted by Regulus

Wonderful image Rolf.

Thank you Trevor

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

Well done Rolf. Nicely mega'ed up. Great detail and colour.

Thanks Paul, I'm glad you liked the colours as I do try to pay special attention to that aspect.

Originally Posted by Leonardo70

Wonderful Rolf, congrats.

All the best,
Leo

Thanks very much Leo

Originally Posted by alpal

That's a great epic work Rolf,
It's hard to know if you see stars or galaxies in the background -
there are so many fuzzy patches in there.

I look forward to your next masterpiece.

cheers
Allan

Thank you Allan! When comparing with Hubble and VLT images etc. then it does seem that the vast majority of the very faintest specks are indeed background galaxies - which is almost scary! It's a big Universe.

Originally Posted by Octane

Absolutely awesome!

H

Thank you H!

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Oh dear...that is the money-shot....sublime in every respect.

The only question I'd have is: how on earth do you get so many clear nights!

Thanks very much Peter, glad you liked it
It's easy: Just move to the Land of the Long White Cloud Actually I feel I've been deprived of good weather this year because it took 6 months to get 75 hours when in comparison it 'only' took 4 months to collect 120 hours last year.

Originally Posted by mental4astro

Nah, your standards are slipping there, Rolf...

What happened? NZ weather not helping? Poor equipment? Mental blank?



Pretty bloody awesome, mate!

Yeath I'm sorry I disappointed you Alex, I'll try to do better next time!

Originally Posted by atalas

Great work Rolf!

Thanks Louie!

Originally Posted by acarleton

Amazing !

Cheers Aidan

Originally Posted by Shiraz

great work Rolf. The depth is very impressive and really brings out the small galaxies in the background - well done.

Thanks Ray, the background galaxies are fascinating. I haven't attempted to count them yet!

Originally Posted by David Fitz-Henr

Top shot there Rolf; an incredibly deep field being your reward for your mega-efforts
I've just collected data for this object as well and am about to process it ... but it is mini-data compared with your effort here

Thank you David, I'll be looking forward to see your take on this pair!

Originally Posted by astronobob

Stunning image & excellent Post Rolf - Hmmmff, I did not know this was a Southern object - keool

Thanks Bob, yes this is just south of the celestial equator, but can certainly also be reached from northern latitudes. I have a very old webcam image of this pair which was taken from Denmark (56 deg N).

[marco (Marco Lorenzi)]

WOW, deep, smooth and detailed image Rolf, a fantastic result on this amazing galaxy pair, you are always pushing the boundaries with these very long exposures!

Clear skies
Marco

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Originally Posted by marco

WOW, deep, smooth and detailed image Rolf, a fantastic result on this amazing galaxy pair, you are always pushing the boundaries with these very long exposures!

Clear skies
Marco

Thank you very much Marco, I'm glad you liked it!
I really enjoy doing these ultra deep images and the result was worth the effort I think, so now I need to consider options for the next one

[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

Hi, Rolf,

I was moved to search out this thread after your more recent collaborative version. This "original" shot of yours is just utterly utterly stunning.

Very best,
Mike