The Illusive Integrated Flux and Bodes Galaxies

[Catanonia]

The integrated flux is the mistyness of the MilkyWay that sits between us and the Bodes Galaxies M81 and M82. It is always hard to get and you need really good skies to get it.

This has been an absolute mare to try and capture even with my fast TS Supernewt running at F2.8.I have tried many times from my location next to a small town and the M6 motorway and always failed to get the integrated flux.

So just before my mount fried it's circuit board I managed to get a whole load of data and I have spent the last few days processing it one way and then another way until I have come up with something that I think I can't really improve upon from my location.

On a really good night, I can just about make our the MilkyWay, to give you an idea of the quality or not of my location.

So here is about 12 hours of LRGB on the galaxy pair.

Scope : TS SuperNewt 568mm FL @F2.8

Guide : TS OAG + QHY5 + HEQ6 + PHD

CCD : QHY9 Mono + QHY 2inch filters

Exposure : 3 hours in 5 mins for each RGB channel and 3 hours in 10min luminance all unbinned.

I hope you like it, probably the best I can get from my location.

[Woolleson]

Me likey a lot !

Fab image

[Gina]

Ooh yes!! Great!

[ollypenrice]

If ever something were a dark site target this would be it, so the boy done good! Very good, in fact. Bear in mind that the IFN is a recent discovery, too.

Olly

[nmoushon]

Thats fantastic! A little too blue for my taste but I'm guessing that it had to be to be able to get the IFN to show. Which is awesome btw! I know what your going thru with the LP (as most of us do I'm sure), which makes this even better. Nicely done!

[ianaiken]

Great job! I didn't even know the IFN existed. Just did a quick search on internet and read some interesting stuff about it. Needs further reading.

[Quatermass]

Man that's dedication, great job never knew all that other stuff was surrounding them.

[Frogpills]

I like it. Good image.

Now I'm off to google intergrated flux. My daily dose of learning.

[kenmyers]

Does the blue mean it is coming towards us? ie blueshifted? or am I being dumb?

They look stunning.

[Stargazer Jack]

That is amazing!

[pel]

Nice!

[steppenwolf]

I agree about the blue but well done on capturing the IFN - excellent stuff!

[MartinB]

Great work on the integrated flux Cat. Looking nice and smoky

[Shibby]

Good job extracting it from the background, I know how difficult that is even with less faint stuff! Once illusive perhaps, now just elusive

[Catanonia]

Good job extracting it from the background, I know how difficult that is even with less faint stuff! Once illusive perhaps, now just elusive

LOL, I KNEW someone would pick that up once I posted and got a reply to the thread and being unable to edit it :D

Thanks all, the amount of work I had to do to get out the IFN and re-merge it back into the image and "try" and keep the colour was immense. Really struggled with galaxy colour (it is a bit blue) and keeping the star pinpoints and colour. I used all my skill sets of masking, star masks, smoothing etc on this image.

I am definately calling it quits on this target from my location as I really don't think I could get better.

[peter shah]

Ah yes I know i t well...a very tricky capture...super shot

[Anweniel]

Actually Cat, I love that electric blue colour that has resulted. Be interesting if you find a better dark site and try this with the same technique, looking through our own galaxy and see it meandering and wisping about the foreground of distant galaxies is a very cool idea and I love where you are going with that. Its a shame about the restrictions of LP, something we all have to suffer to varying degrees, but your work with the supernewt doesnt really show these limitations much for me so good work!

[Catanonia]

Actually Cat, I love that electric blue colour that has resulted. Be interesting if you find a better dark site and try this with the same technique, looking through our own galaxy and see it meandering and wisping about the foreground of distant galaxies is a very cool idea and I love where you are going with that. Its a shame about the restrictions of LP, something we all have to suffer to varying degrees, but your work with the supernewt doesnt really show these limitations much for me so good work!

Strange you should say that about the blue colour. I re-looked at the processing of it under PixInsight and the colours were balanced correctly. Perhaps I have uneven quantities of colour in the image. Not much chance of a better site as it is all observatory mounted and wire and would be a massive job to move it all.