Zwicky's Necklace 8-Zw-388

[JD2439975 (Justin)]

Had a try at this one last year...it was reviewed as "like a dim light shining through a hessian sack", thanks Mike.

Well this years attempt is better but only just (coarser hessian used).
2.5 hrs of 5min subs, ISO400, darks, no flats, not the best skies, gradient removed in Iris then beaten into submission with PhotoShop.

8-Zw-388 can be found in Virgo at: RA 14 15 07, Dec -00 29 30.
With the brightest member at Vmag 16.5 & the dimmest visible in image at 19.7, any below Vmag 20 just gets lost in the background noise.

At a distance of approx 1.8 billion light-years you'll need more than a cut lunch & a waterbag to get to this one.
Also in frame & at approximately the same distance is galaxy cluster ACO-1882 (lower-middle) & to the right at a "in ya face" 500+ million light-years is a spiral galaxy with a name so silly I'm not even going to print it here.

Image size is approx 21x20 arcmins.

Just for a laugh,
Justin.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Oh, boy. That's fantastic that you're going after some really obscure objects.

Glad to see you using IRIS. : )

H

[malp (Malcolm)]

Beautiful image.

[Dennis]

Excellent results, more so given that you are using a non-modified Canon 40D in the tropics! Doing it the hard way eh!

Cheers

Dennis

[Ric]

Great capture Justin.

Wow, 1.8 billion lightyears, now that is some ancient light.

Cheers

[JD2439975 (Justin)]

Originally Posted by Octane

Oh, boy. That's fantastic that you're going after some really obscure objects.

Glad to see you using IRIS. : )

H

Always been fond of the road less travelled H, few more dead ends though.
Ah IRIS, had to download all the tutorials with it, not an easy program to use but looks quite powerful for a freebie.

Originally Posted by malp

Beautiful image.

Thank you Malcolm, glad you like it, just playing with a repro that might bring out a bit more Vmag depth and smooth things a bit...maybe.

Originally Posted by Dennis

Excellent results, more so given that you are using a non-modified Canon 40D in the tropics! Doing it the hard way eh!

Cheers

Dennis

Dry season we often have excellent seeing & transperancy...but not this year.
Would love to have a modded camera for that extra HII light, oh no, not another expense, this hobby is going to drive me to the wall.

Originally Posted by Ric

Great capture Justin.

Wow, 1.8 billion lightyears, now that is some ancient light.

Cheers

Thanks Ric.

I reckon by the time those photons hit my sensor they were knackered, time for a cuppa tea & a good lie down.
To think that when they left, life on earth was what, no more than blue-green algae if any life at all.
Makes me feel kind of privileged to be their final destination.

Cheers all,
Justin.

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

great to see such an unusual target imaged that too with a dslr

[Hagar (Doug)]

WOW This is a faint one well captured.

[TrevorW]

Sorry Justin I assume you are referring to the faint fuzzie mid right ???

[JD2439975 (Justin)]

Originally Posted by seeker372011

great to see such an unusual target imaged that too with a dslr

Originally Posted by Hagar

WOW This is a faint one well captured.

Cheers guys, glad you like it, yeah bit on the faint side.

Originally Posted by TrevorW

Sorry Justin I assume you are referring to the faint fuzzie mid right ???

Nope, upper left quadrant for the necklace Trev, mid right is the unspeakable name.

[TrevorW]

Ok gotcha

[h0ughy (David)]

they certainly are obscure - never heard of them before - but then this is a big hobby!

[qcdougn (Doug)]

Hi,
This is a very late post. But I have had this target on my list for a very long time... excellent capture. What kit was used to grab this pic?

Could I image it with a CPC-1100 @f6.3/1764mm and a ZWO ASI 385MC camera?
Regards,
Doug

[Ryderscope (Rodney)]

Good on you Justin for going after some obscure objects. Nicely done.