omega centauri A deeper look at Omega Centauri ( NGC 5139 )

[MikeODay]

Update 16th June:

I could not wait to tell people that I was just notified that my image of Omega Centauri will be published as a future NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day ( APOD ) - my first ever

I will update the thread when they publish.

.................................

A deep look at Omega Centauri ( NGC 5139 ) 

This image is an attempt to look deeply into the the Omega Centauri globular cluster by using HDR techniques to record as many faint stars as I can whilst retaining colour and detail in the bright stars, including at the core  ...

.............

Reprocessed to bring out more faint stars and to produce a smother transition between brightness levels.

New version ( 12 June 2017 ):

Omega Centauri ( NGC 5129 )

( please click / tap on image to see lager and sharper )

 

..........

Old version:

Omega Centauri ( NGC 5129 )

( please click / tap on image to see full size and sharper )

 

Image details:

from www.nova.astrometry.net:
Size: 58.6 x 39 arcmins,
Centre: 13h 26 min 50.4 sec, -47deg 28' 39.1''.
Orientation: up is -89.9 East of North ( ie. E^ N> ).

Telescope:
Orion Optics CT12 Newtonian ( mirror 300mm, fl 1200mm, f4 ).
Corrector: ASA 2" Coma Corrector Quattro 1.175x.
Effective Focal Length / Aperture : 1410mm f4.7.

Mount:
Skywatcher AZ Eq6 GT.

Guiding:
TSOAG9 Off-Axis-Guider, Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2, PHD2 .

Camera:
Nikon D5300 (unmodified) (sensor 23.5 x 15.6mm, 6016x4016 3.9um pixels).
No filter
Long Exposure noise reduction off

Location:.
Blue Mountains, Australia.
Moderate light pollution ( pale green zone on darksitefinder.com map ).

Capture:
9 sets of sub-images with exposure duration for each set doubling ( 1s to 240s ) all at ISO800.

Processing:.
Calibration: master bias, master flat and no darks.
Integration in 9 sets.
HDR combination.
Pixinsight 

May 2017

 

[celestron8g8]

That is a fantastic capture . I can see stars all to center of core . Great !

[MARS1960]

Stunning image, thanks for sharing.

[MikeODay]

29 minutes ago, celestron8g8 said:

That is a fantastic capture . I can see stars all to center of core . Great !

 

7 minutes ago, MARS1960 said:

Stunning image, thanks for sharing.

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

[Mr Spock]

Excellent image - so many stars!

[MikeODay]

10 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Excellent image - so many stars!

Thank you Michael.  Due to the high moisture content in the sky at the moment I am suffering from pretty high ligh pollution and with only one night and a few hours before the humidity, dew, clouds and finally rain conspired to send me in doors I did not get enought data to overcome the solid red/brown LP ( equivalent to bottom 2.5% of the linear integrated and unstretched 240sec image ) - I am sure there are more stars in there for me to find.  Oh, well maybe it will be dryer next year

 

[MikeODay]

SkySafari has a interesting feature that shows the postion of objects relative to the Milky Way and the Sun.  The screen shot below shows Omega Centauri ( NGC 5139 ) above the plane of the Milky Way with the Centaurus Arm directly below.

( credit SkySafari )

 

 

[CraigT82]

Stunning image! It's heartening to see the excellent work that can be done with a big newt and a dslr. That skysafari feature is pretty neat too. 

[Allinthehead]

Wow fantastic Mike.

[MikeODay]

13 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

Stunning image! It's heartening to see the excellent work that can be done with a big newt and a dslr. That skysafari feature is pretty neat too. 

 

10 hours ago, Allinthehead said:

Wow fantastic Mike.

Thanks guys.

[MikeODay]

Reprocessed to bring out more faint stars and to produce a smoother transition between brightness levels.

Omega Centauri ( NGC 5139 )

( please click / tap on image to see larger and sharper )

[PatrickGilliland]

Superb - top drawer image, not much more that can be said  

[MikeODay]

Thanks Patrick, much appreciated.

[MikeODay]

A couple of different views ...

 

[Tangoringo]

What an awesome image. Congratulations Mike for a job extremely well done.

[MikeODay]

On 14/06/2017 at 18:13, Tangoringo said:

What an awesome image. Congratulations Mike for a job extremely well done.

Cheers Thanks for that.

[MikeODay]

I could not wait to tell people that I was just notified that my image of Omega Centauri will be published as a future NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day ( APOD ) - my first ever 

I will update the thread when they publish.

[Astro Imp]

Mike, that is awesome.

As a non imager I don't often comment in this section but couldn't let this image of an iconic object go unremarked.

[MikeODay]

Thank you Alan, that is very kind of you.

[MikeODay]

Final version submitted to APOD - not sure if they will use this one or the orginal I sent in:

( please click on image to see larger / sharper )

Adjustments this version:
- less hightlight compression resulting in more accurarte relative brightness between cluster stars and brighter Milky Way stars.
- tweaked colour balance
- more nuanced shadow stretch to bring out more faint stars without increasing noise
- and better targeted deconvolution

..........

Original version

( please click on image to see larger / sharper )

 

[Rodd]

Congratulations of the APOD.  Well done

[ultranova]

Congratulations on a magnificent picture...You certainly have the newt running

Like a charm..

Well done

Paul

[MikeODay]

On 20/06/2017 at 05:58, Rodd said:

Congratulations of the APOD.  Well done

 

On 20/06/2017 at 06:17, ultranova said:

Congratulations on a magnificent picture...You certainly have the newt running

Like a charm..

Well done

Paul

Thanks Guys, much appreciated.

I can't wait to see it on the apod.nasa.gov site .   ( I wonder if those who have had many images on APOD ever get over the woohoo feeling every time they get an other one  )

[johnfosteruk]

Absolutely outstanding image Mike, a very worthy APOD.

[MikeODay]

23 hours ago, johnfosteruk said:

Absolutely outstanding image Mike, a very worthy APOD.

Cheers John.