ARP 286 - A Virgo Threesome

[Petergoodhew]

I'm fascinated by interacting galaxies - and find this trio particularly colourful and beautiful. NGC 5560, NGC 5566 and NGC5569.

Just over 11 hours of data, captured on the TMB in Spain.

RGB all 10x600s, Lum 25x900s

 

[DaveS]

Interesting

Would you categorise the big spiral as being "red-and-dead"

[wimvb]

Excellent image. Since the galaxies interact, there should be tidal bridges between them. Have you tried superstretching the luminance data? This may work even better if you first create a superluminance from all the data.

[Lars]

I'm also a fan of interacting glaxies and this is a beautiful image and I like the processing. There is an image showing the interactions on this page if you scroll to the bottom.

http://lempel.pagesperso-orange.fr/arp_286_uk.htm

/Lars

[Petergoodhew]

1 hour ago, wimvb said:

Since the galaxies interact, there should be tidal bridges between them. Have you tried superstretching the luminance data?

Wim. I hadn't, but have just done so.  Here it is. Interesting!

[wimvb]

Quite interesting indeed. I'd also found the link Lars posted.

I don't think you have enough data yet to clearly lift the bridges in the original image. (But please prove me wrong.) There are also a few dust bunnies that interfere.

[Petergoodhew]

1 minute ago, wimvb said:

I don't think you have enough data yet to clearly lift the bridges in the original image. (But please prove me wrong.) There are also a few dust bunnies that interfere.

Now that's an intriguing challenge Wim.  I suspect that you are right.  I went back to the raw unprocessed data for this. But I might have a play with a superluminance when I have the time.  I haven't found any other images online that show the bridges.

[wimvb]

8 minutes ago, Petergoodhew said:

Now that's an intriguing challenge Wim.

 In this case I like to be proven wrong. It's this aspect of AP that I like most; revealing stuff that's often overlooked.

Good luck. If you can add another 11 hours of (luminance) data, that will make the job easier. The only hickup may be the dust bunnies on the right. It looks like they shifted between taking the lights and taking the flats. Older flats perhaps?

[celestron8g8]

Excellent capture !