Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b89429c566825f6ab32bcafbada449c9.jpg

Merope, and a faint galaxy

Zakalwe

By Zakalwe
in Imaging - Deep Sky

Recommended Posts

Zakalwe

Zakalwe

Posted
Posted

post-9007-0-48151600-1384122937_thumb.jp

I caught this through moisture-laden air last night.

10 x 5 minute Luminance
6 x 5 minute each of Red, Green and Blue
Atik 428 on Equinox 80
TRF-2008
Baader RGB filters

It's not a great image....it needs lots more data and someone better than me to process it.

However, I was playing about with the image this evening, and noticed what appears to be a faint edge-on galaxy at the edge of the image. I've spent a couple of hours trying to identify it, and finally I've found it's name- UGC 02838
A couple of hours fruitless web crawling resulted in no details on this galaxy, until I found an academic paper called CosmicFlows 2. This paper lists the details on some 8000 galaxies and in it I found a little more information about UGC 02838. This galaxy lies 96.83 megaparsecs away. Now thats a long way away. Its over 315 million light years away. Which means that some bloke (me), in a back garden in Morecambe, with amateur gear, has managed to capture photons that have been traversing the Universe from before the dinosaurs evolved.

Now that blows my freaking mind.

post-9007-0-71960600-1384123044_thumb.jp

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Raga

Raga

Posted
Posted

Great image.

It is really staggering to think how long the photons hitting your sensor have taken to get here.

The distance they have travelled and the time taken to reach us and it makes me wonder if there are beings out there looking at our little plot of the universe and saying the same things to themselves.

Who knows???????

Anyway, again, great image and detective work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Komet

Komet

Posted
Posted

Mag 17 isn't it? (I am not certain about that - just seen it stated somewhere) That shouldn't really surprise you though - you have probably picked up many others even fainter. Th really amazing thing is how short an exposure can be to do it.

For example ... http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/198451-can-anyone-give-me-some-details-on-these-smudges/

These are some very faint galaxies taken using  just 10 second subs (this is a stack of 19 x 10s) through a very old 12" reflector in need of some collimation and probably a good mirror clean (Its a truss).

So yes it is amazing, considering the distances, the time taken and the very few photons involved. It is almost as amazing as the sensitivity of the gear we are luckily using today. 

(If any detectives can fill in any of the gaps on those smudges I would be grateful)

I too was having a go at M45 last night using just 2 minute subs (but loads of them) - that galaxy stands out very well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 4 weeks later...
MikeWilson

MikeWilson

Posted
Posted

Beautiful, Zak!

I see that you're using the 428. How do you find it? Apologies if you have already posted about this - I've been away from SGL for a while and I'm using my phone so searching while posting isn't easy.

Cheers,

Mike

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Zakalwe

Zakalwe

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Beautiful, Zak!

I see that you're using the 428. How do you find it? Apologies if you have already posted about this - I've been away from SGL for a while and I'm using my phone so searching while posting isn't easy.

Cheers,

Mike

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hello Mike,

I thought that you'd been missing for a while. You moved to the Isle of Man, didn't you?

The 428 is a great little camera. I miss the massive FoV of the QHY8L at times. Learning to process RGB images is a bit of a learning curve (and I wish that I had more clear night and time to do it!), but I like the added flexibility of narrowband imaging. Of course, its a lovely clear night tonight and I've work in the morning, and FEDEX seems to have lost my new EQ8 :huh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MikeWilson

MikeWilson

Posted
Posted

428's and EQ8's - really doing the business now, eh? ;)

My next investment in the hobby will be a pier. Yes, in the Isle of Man now. The sky here is immensely beautiful, crystal clear and dark. Very little temperature change through the night too and stars seem clearer with more stable air. That said, it is windy and the sooner I can get a small obsy up the better!

I miss the field of view on the QHY8L too, as well as the immense simplicity of OSCing a target. I swapped mine for a second hand 314L and I can't decide which I prefer. I think the familiarity of the QHY8L makes me more comfortable but I really love the binning mode and fast transfer of the 314L data which can give do 0.5 second exposure giving an almost 'real time' view of the sky. It's great for aligning and framing dim objects without necessarily taking preview frames don't you find?

The 428 is seriously tempting but for now I'll have to wait !

Mike

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Zakalwe

Zakalwe

Posted
  • Author
Posted

You lucky thing! I'm directly across the "pond" from you in Morecambe. Unfortunately, my skies are terrible with pretty bad LP (there's a commercial estate not far from me with a pile of car dealers, all of whom seem to be doing their bit to keep the energy companies in profits by pumping thousands of watts of light into the sky)and unending clouds.

Yep, the 428 seems like a good little camera. RGB processing is a bit of a pain in the butt......OSC is definitely a LOT easier to capture and process IMHO (lights blue touch paper and waits for Olly :smiley: :smiley:  )

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Zakalwe

Zakalwe

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yes, I've started to use Aladin. A great piece of software...not the most user-friendly. IanL did a good "How-To" on the software here:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/188528-counting-galaxies-in-images/?p=1965865

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.