Finally almost two months after moving in to Wallaroo, I managed to get the AG12 set up and whirring over the weekend
Already, on the first night I know this is a better place than Newcastle, darker and steadier air - first night! Hallelujah
and there was no dew what so ever!
For my first target under dark skies with the AG12, I wanted to do something reasonably well known and a bit bright but have a good look at what was lurking in the field that isn't normally shown in run of the mill versions....so, given it's positioning I went with a tiny unknown galaxy..?..NGC 253..heard of it?
See, thing is, this galaxy is surrounded by a very faint diffuse halo and lots of Milky Way Cirrus that are rarely revealed in images of this field, not to mention thousands of distant background galaxies and galaxy clusters. So I thought I would do a deep image ala my
infamous Cen A from Wiruna back in 2008 with the Starfire
.
Of course now I have a 12" at F3.8 compared to a 6" at F8...which makes a
world of difference
So, rather than the nearly 20hrs of data I gathered for the Cen A and shot over three nights this is only 5.6hrs in total gathered over one
....the extra aperture and speed make a difference.
Yes, yes, I know, there is a little noise in the background but this exercise was as much about just revealing stuff as making a perfect picture.
Here is the Full frame image
FULL FRAME
Here is a close up of just the galaxy and surrounding galaxy clusters
CLOSE UP
Here is a comparison with a deep image composed by David Malin using UK Schmidt plates:
UK SCHMIDTCOMPARISON
Here is a selection of 100% crops of some
distant galaxies and galaxy clusters near NGC 253
This is me all set up and waiting for darkness...and
ALL EXCITED
Although it is only NGC 253, I hope it is a little interesting none the less
Mike
I'm happy for you to have great sky's for a change. Nice one Mike.
...There was absolutely no manual (fake) enhancement of the halo either, it was detectable in a 5min sub but in the basic 3hr median combined frame with only a normal stretch it was blow you away bright! With more exposure I could have gone smoother but not really any deeper (the halo is larger in my image than in the UK Schmidt shot!)...once I have an observatory though and no pack up is required between sessions - look out 
