M87 relativistic jet and other galaxies

[Astrojedi]

M87 relativistic jet. 4x25s USM, C8 @ F5

Jet of plasma being ejected by a massive black hole consuming matter. It is also one of the strongest radio sources in the sky. It extends about 5 thousand light years from the center of M87 (which is one of the most massive elliptical  galaxies known to us

More here: https://en.wikipedia...wiki/Messier_87

Interacting galaxies in Leo NGC4302, NGC4298 (this is actually x2 bin not x1 bin as mentioned on the image)

[aparker]

That's an impressive M51 for 60 sec of data.  You must have been under some reasonably dark skies.

[Astrojedi]

Thanks Alex. This is from my red/white zone backyard.

The fast acquisition is primarily the result of binning. The 825 with x2 binning is extremely sensitive.

A couple of other things that helped were: not using a LP filter and  imaging at F5 which allowed me to adjust black levels (no vignetting) to remove the sky background and improve contrast.

[RobertI]

Nice captures of some interesting objects Hiten. Vignetting and coma nicely controlled. Interestingly the FOV is almost identical to my RC6 @ F4.6 using the Lodestar.

[Martin Meredith]

Excellent captures. I love the jet -- probably the clearest I've seen it in short exposures.

Martin

[aparker]

7 hours ago, Astrojedi said:

Thanks Alex. This is from my red/white zone backyard.

The fast acquisition is primarily the result of binning. The 825 with x2 binning is extremely sensitive.

A couple of other things that helped were: not using a LP filter and  imaging at F5 which allowed me to adjust black levels (no vignetting) to remove the sky background and improve contrast.

Gotcha - the 13 micron pixels are definitely helping speed there!

[Astrojedi]

Thanks Martin, Rob.

Rob, yes at F5 the image is mostly aberration free. You are correct the FOV is almost identical.

Of course there are differences in sampling and pixel resolution. But for me the biggest benefit is the exceptional sensitivity delivered by the Ultrastar with x2 binning even at F5.

 

[nytecam]

Nice work Hiten via the 2x2 binned Ultrastar - very impressive.   May try the camera again by repiggybacked the DIY Lensless Schmidt of 450mm fl as the field not coma-free on the SCT at fast f/ratios.

Hope it's ok to include my M87 jet from awhile ago via the SCT+Lodestar-C ;-)

Nyte

 

[Astrojedi]

Thanks Nytecam.

Fantastic captures for just 20s and with a LC to boot. I need to get a larger scope. : )

Note that I imaged the M87 jet using x1 bin on the Ultrastar (x2 bin was too sensitive and was blowing out the core).

Hiten

[Paul81]

Just to keep folks up to date - Starlight Live V3 will support binning. I haven't worked on it for a little while as I got the bug fixes in for V2.1 but am back on the case. Binning is working on the progressive scan cameras (easy) such as Ultrastar, but the interlaced cameras (Lodestar) binning isn't quite right..

I am also modifying the stacking so it handles multiple resolution, so it gives you the option of capturing data at say 1x1 and then adding more at 2x2. I know the hardcore imagers use this technique for RGB, but it'll be interesting to see what it does capturing (mono) 1x1 and then adding 2x2 in say sum stack mode.

Binning is of course available to colour camera users, but you will only get black and white images (i.e. luminance) only, as binning a bayer sensor puts all colour elements into one super pixel.

[nytecam]

On ‎02‎/‎02‎/‎2016 at 19:23, Astrojedi said:

Thanks Nytecam.

Fantastic captures for just 20s and with a LC to boot. I need to get a larger scope. : )

Note that I imaged the M87 jet using x1 bin on the Ultrastar (x2 bin was too sensitive and was blowing out the core).

Hiten

Hiten - your jet enlarged and sharpened to show possible structure - hence my 3 shots to show commonality !  The jet changes over time.

Nytecam

[Astrojedi]

Interesting. I never did a comparison over time.

[Astrojedi]

Found a video from Hubble Site which is a composite of images taken over 13 years and shows the movement of the Jet over time (27s into the video). The movement seems to be too small to be picked up by my humble 8".

https://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/opo1332a/