HCG50 Among Others

[HiloDon]

Hi All,

Finally got a good look at Hickson Compact Group 50 last night with my LSX2c. Thanks to Martin for his inspiration and knowledge in galaxy clusters. I was randomly picking out other objects as well and thought I would share them with you. It was late, but ended with Eta Carinae in both mono and color with the NB Ha filter. It is quite impressive and I am quite lucky to be in a location in the US that can view it.

Comments and suggestions are always appreciated. Thanks for looking.

Don

[RobertI]

Great results Don. The last capture shows superb detail - is that using the mono camera?

Rob

[HiloDon]

Thanks, Rob. Yes, I have both the mono and color Lodestars. The color loses some detail because Ha only passes through one of the Bayer masks. It's still not bad, but can't match the detail you get with the unmasked mono. I have it set up now where the nosepiece and filter are captured in the eyepiece holder, so all I do is unscrew one camera and screw on the other. Don't even have to refocus.

Don

[Paul81]

Great stuff Don, I really like Eta Carinae. I will do an astro holiday one day to tour some of the sights of the southern sky, but in the meantime keep 'em coming!

The 50mm and Ha filter combo is working a treat! 

[f15p5]

Hi Don,

That last mono image is breathtaking, great job and thanks for the views!

Richard

[HiloDon]

Thanks, Paul and Richard. I think I do like the mono best, but color is nice, too. Richard, you gave me the idea to look at some of those other objects. I think the Ghost of Jupiter needs some serious focal length though.

Don

[Martin Meredith]

Hi Don

Your shot of HCG50 is tremendous when you look at the listed magnitudes of those galaxies.

I went so far as to produce a little map (which needs rotating 90 deg anticlockwise to match your orientation) which lists the magnitudes not just of the Hickson group but others in the field. The brightest of the group is mag 18.6 and the faintest is mag 20!! This is one of the deepest shots I've seen from the Lodestar. These galaxies are over 2 billion LYs distant. This is definitely on my target list now Uma is at a decent altitude.

HCG50.pdf

Martin

[HiloDon]

Thanks much, Martin. The map is great. I was wondering about all the other things I was seeing. And this is the color LS! I only used the color because I had my mono in my SW100ed at F7.2. I could see the five galaxies, but the image scale was pretty small. I had my 8" at the longer FL to get some small objects like Hubble's, so I used it for HCG50. I plan on going back with the mono at longer FL with my refractors. Your map will help big time. Thanks.

Don

[orion25]

Great images, Don. Eta Carinae looks absolutely angelic! I like the ghostly Owl Nebula, too. You are very fortunate to be in an area to capture these wonderful citizens of the universe (and you capture them so well)!

Cheers,

Reggie

[HiloDon]

Thanks, Reggie. All I need is some of your classic music to go along with the views, especially Eta. Feel free to use any of my images and put it to your compositions.

Clear skies, my friend.

Don

[Dom543]

Hi Don,

I really like your Eta Carinae images and the comparison of color and mono.

After you convinced me that mean stacking is nothing but sum stacking for lazy people, what is median stacking? To what extent is that responsible for the loss of detail? Since I have only a color camera, I have to try hard to blame anything but the Bayer matrix for the loss of detail...

Keep those great images coming while I'll have two weeks of extended Valentine's Day with Denise on vacation!

Cheers!

--Dom

[nytecam]

Great work Don - one gx in your HGC50 looks reddish ! :-)

[orion25]

Thanks, Reggie. All I need is some of your classic music to go along with the views, especially Eta. Feel free to use any of my images and put it to your compositions.

Clear skies, my friend.

Don

Thanks, Don. I'll take you up on that offer some time

[f15p5]

Hi Don,

Your right on about the GOJ, it will take insane magnification and hold up well. Best view visual I ever had of it was at 525x in my 8" f15.5 using a 6mm Pentax ortho in perfect seeing. I need to try these camera's on my larger scopes but have been lazy about taking the time to set them up.

Richard