NGC 4038 & 4039 Antennae Galaxies

[RobF (Rob)]

Good mate Martin (IIS "Bender") has been dialing in his home built observatory over the last couple of years. I recently had the opportunity to get copies of large datasets for objects he'd been collecting over many nights in SGP to try and help with processing, and thought this one might be of interest.

This is a 10hr subset of the best frames (mostly 5min subs, some 10 min) collected over many nights using: GSO 12" RC / QHY10 OSC / EQ8 / Sequence Generator Pro.

There are still challenges to address with smearing artefacts and background correction, but for Brisbane bayside surburban skies thought this was pretty amazing. It may be that finer detail in the core and better contrast on the "wings" may be possible in the future, but still pretty exciting how this came up in PI in the end.

Larger zoomable image available HERE

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

That's a fine result for a difficult target from the city.

[RobF (Rob)]

Yep, that's what I thought too. Stood up better than I expected to some PI bullying. Guess you're seeing that too with volumes of data coming out of Voyager.

I've played with Martin's data on his home PC before but was nice to dig deeper on my home PC/screens. After dealing with 530mm FL data for so long, but pleasantly surprised how this longer (>2000mm FL) data holds up to techniques I normally get little or no value from (Deconv, drizzle). Always something to learn.

Good to see Martin getting the Beast hummin'

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Yeah, some excellent details visible in the cores of the galaxies Rob, nice.

Mike

[RobF (Rob)]

Thanks for your expert galaxy eye Mike. Pretty sure this rig can do better if we figure out what was causing the fainter cup handles on some stars, but lot to be said for >2m focal length.

p.s. Martin's data, not mine - but I happily process for beer, choc or Twisties

p.p.s I've see you've gone up in the world - congrats on Eaglesnest !!

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by RobF

Thanks for your expert galaxy eye Mike. Pretty sure this rig can do better if we figure out what was causing the fainter cup handles on some stars, but lot to be said for >2m focal length.

p.s. Martin's data, not mine - but I happily process for beer, choc or Twisties

p.p.s I've see you've gone up in the world - congrats on Eaglesnest !!

He he, thanks mate...bit of work to do but should be a fun journey (and a fine view) along the way ...hopefully Eagleview won't become so infamous as it's near namesake

Yeah the "cup handles" are interesting

Mike

[ozstronomer (Geoff)]

Great Image Rob and Martin

Nicely processed considering the battle we face with skyglow in Brissy

Hope you can find a fix for the small imperfections in the stars

Well done, Geoff

[RobF (Rob)]

Originally Posted by ozstronomer

Great Image Rob and Martin

Nicely processed considering the battle we face with skyglow in Brissy

Hope you can find a fix for the small imperfections in the stars

Well done, Geoff

Thanks Geoff, know Martin will appreciate your words (and I do too).
Could possibly have gone nuts and masked the stars heavily, but we're both pretty chuffed how it turned out and pretty sure Martin won't rest until everthing is ticking over perfectly.

Hope you backyard obs is still getting some love?