This is a longer-term project I wanted to try before Hydra sets too far. This was pushing the little 6" scope beyond its limits with a 4x Powermate to f24 (3600mm).
Covering about 14x10 arcminutes, this is part of the Abell 1060 group in Hydra centered on the galaxy NGC3312. There are a dozen or more galaxies visible in the field and several very bright ones. Well bright compared to the dim ones anyway. This image was taken over 5 nights and totals almost 14 hours of exposures. Perhaps the limit for a 6" telescope under the Gold Coast skies!
Thanks Mike,
It does have diffraction spikes ! These had me flumoxed for a little while but I've determined that they are caused by the three clips that hols the corrector in. They only protrude 1mm into the corrector, but it's enough to cause the spikes to appear after about 5 hours
There are lots of great galaxies in this field. The one you mention is NGC3316 a Mag 14.1 spiral. In the top-right corner is NGC3314. this one is amazing because it is actually two galaxies. There is a distinct foreground face-on spiral in front of a more distant edge-on spiral. They appear as one galaxy with an ejection, sort of like M82.
Brilliant Eddie. How did you capture and process the image? These are the sort of skills I really want to learn. Maybe you could run a SE-QLD astrofest like the Kiwis have just done. (hint hint )
How did you capture and process the image? These are the sort of skills I really want to learn.
Whew Paul...That question could be answered in 2000 pages or more. What's the line limit of the Quick Reply window
Ok in a nutshell,
1) Planning. Knowing the object size, how it will frame with your camera and the guidestar selection which will may involve camera reorientation. This is really important. I pre-plan all of my images and know which guidestar I will use and the framing of the object well before I approach the scope.
2) Be in it for the long haul. Many people like to image as many objects as possible in one night. I like to image as much of one object as needed to get a good image of it. This may take weeks!
3) Once all is planned, it is repeatable. With an image like this, with target objects scattered all over the field, repeatable positioning is very important from night-to-night.
4) I accumulate the nights images and do a rough process of them to see if the signal-to-noise ratio is high enough to stop. If not, I will do another night on the same object.
5) Repeat the last step until done.
P.S. Many details have been omitted to protect the disinterested
Quote:
Maybe you could run a SE-QLD astrofest like the Kiwis have just done.
I'd love to do something like that in the future. Ron Wodaski does imaging camps in the states and they are very popular.
Last edited by EddieT; 03-06-2005 at 04:04 PM.
Reason: Typo repair
Thanks Eddie, I'll keep my eyes and ears peeled for anything happening in that direction. Just make sure you let me know well in advance so I can build up cudos in advance at home.
And thanks Paul. I will give plenty of advance notice if and when this happens. I wouldn't do something like that without having some firm committment of numbers beforehand.
But I think there would be some interest out there in a hands-on course for intermediate to advanced imaging for amateurs.
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How did you capture and process the image? These are the sort of skills I really want to learn. Maybe you could run a SE-QLD astrofest like the Kiwis have just done. 
(hint hint 
)
Wow!!!!
