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Messier 82 and its superwinds with "cap"

Barry-Wilson

By Barry-Wilson
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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Barry-Wilson

Barry-Wilson

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A deep image and part of a two panel mosaic we are working on.  This is a classic image enhanced with hydrogen alpha data  and benefiting from good dark skies at e-Eye.  From APOD: "Explanation: Also known as the Cigar Galaxy for its elongated visual appearance, M82 is a starburst galaxy with a superwind. In fact, through ensuing supernova explosions and powerful winds from massive stars, the burst of star formation in M82 is driving a prodigious outflow. Evidence for the superwind from the galaxy's central regions is clear in this sharp telescopic snapshot. The composite image highlights emission from long outflow filaments of atomic hydrogen gas in reddish hues. Some of the gas in the superwind, enriched in heavy elements forged in the massive stars, will eventually escape into intergalactic space. Including narrow band image data in the deep exposure has revealed a faint feature dubbed the cap. Perched about 35,000 light-years above the galaxy at the upper left, the cap appears to be galactic halo material. The material has been ionized by the superwind shock or intense ultraviolet radiation from the young, massive stars in the galaxy's core. Triggered by a close encounter with nearby large galaxy M81, the furious burst of star formation in M82 should last about 100 million years or so. M82 is 12 million light-years distant, near the northern boundary of Ursa Major."  The link to this APOD image is here.

This image is a small crop with the full frame image showing some faint IFN, however that was not the processing goal, rather it was the Ha jets that mark the starburst and formation in this active galaxy.  Plenty of PI wizardry involved.

Details:

  • TEC140
  • QSI690wsg-8 with Astrodon filters
  • 10 Micron GM2000HPS II UP
  • Ha 24 x 1200s; Lum 48 x 600s, RGB 24 x 600s each; 28 hours total integration
  • Shared owned observatory at e-Eye with Steve Milne, January 2019
  • Data acquisition: Barry Wilson & Steve Milne
  • Processing: Barry Wilson

M82_LHaRGB2_crop.thumb.jpg.6eb3dfb62a595567c05e811a3aa810b4.jpg

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Barry-Wilson

Barry-Wilson

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On 09/02/2019 at 13:13, Craney said:

Fantastic !!  What an image.

I've been trying for those red bits for over a year now... one day I will get 'em....

Thank you.  They will come with sufficient subs and are visible in a red filter, Ha certainly helps.

20 hours ago, toxic said:

WoW  beaut image just love the little fuzies let alone the cigar great one Barry

Thanks very much Chris.  It's a galaxy that lends itself to an annual pilgrimage . . .

20 hours ago, x6gas said:

Stunning capture.

Cheers!

20 hours ago, artem said:

Amazing image!

Much appreciated.

4 hours ago, alan4908 said:

That is an outstanding image Barry - the combination of your high resolution set up + the skies down in Spain are really delivering spectacular results.

Alan

Both Steve and I are very pleased with the new set up and the dark sky at this resolution does have a real impact on data quality, sharper, more contrast etc.

1 hour ago, Steve 1962 said:

Absolutely stunning Barry!

Thanks Steve - hope you're well and imaging away!

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jjosefsen

jjosefsen

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8 minutes ago, Barry-Wilson said:

Yes, this the "cap" and from the APOD link in the OP: "Including narrow band image data in the deep exposure has revealed a faint feature dubbed the cap. Perched about 35,000 light-years above the galaxy at the upper left, the cap appears to be galactic halo material."

Fascinating, eh?

Aah I missed that somehow.. Thanks!

Very fascinating indeed. I love it when some of these details that you don't often see pop out. ?

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Barry-Wilson

Barry-Wilson

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9 hours ago, SamAndrew said:

Soo deep! love those galaxy clusters in the background at the bottom :) 

Thanks Sam.

7 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Tremendous image with a great range of colours including the blue hints.

I didn't know about 'The Cap' when I did this with Yves so our framing missed it out. Curses!

:icon_mrgreen:lly

 

Much appreciated Olly.  You now have a reason to image it once again with your TEC 140 ? ?.

5 hours ago, x6gas said:

I'm tempted to say that maybe that's because you image from France and not the Netherlands, Olly, but I won't...

Cheeky . . . I think you have to be a certain age to appreciate the subtle reference!

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Chris-A

Chris-A

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Fantastic image Barry! And the background galaxies are a thing of beauty.

It got me looking at my own work-in-progress version to see if I could see the cap as I had never heard of it before - it is just about there with 8.5 hours of Ha but I'm never going to be able to capture it as well as you have here with UK skies. Ditto with that faint white arc just to the left of the galaxy - is that IFN? It looks more like some sort of shock wave.

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tomato

tomato

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Another stunning image. As well as the “cap” there are some light coloured filaments extending out from the galaxy on the LHS?

I’ve studied an image photo in the Cambridge Photographic Atlas of Galaxies, taken from the Mount Lemmon Sky Centre using a 800mm reflector,  41 hrs total integration time, and I cannot see them on that one. They are just discernable  on the APOD, drowned out somewhat by the Ha filaments. I have to say I prefer the balance of your image.

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Barry-Wilson

Barry-Wilson

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On 11/02/2019 at 22:55, smr said:

Absolutely breathtaking. Stunning image.

Cheers smr.

On 12/02/2019 at 04:00, Seanelly said:

An inspiring image!

Thanks Sean.

22 hours ago, Chris-A said:

Fantastic image Barry! And the background galaxies are a thing of beauty.

It got me looking at my own work-in-progress version to see if I could see the cap as I had never heard of it before - it is just about there with 8.5 hours of Ha but I'm never going to be able to capture it as well as you have here with UK skies. Ditto with that faint white arc just to the left of the galaxy - is that IFN? It looks more like some sort of shock wave.

Excellent result with the Cap - not sure about the pale arc, I guess some sort of shock wave from the high speed jets, but not usre.  Now there's a challenge to research!

22 hours ago, Rodd said:

Awesome Barry.  Was that a straight TEc 140 with no reducer?  about 900mm FL?  Its very sharp for a crop.  Astounding

Rodd

Hi Rodd - TEC140 with flattener which boost its FL ever so slightly to 1015mm.  Good luminance data meant I was able to deconvolve quite effectively.  Much appreciated.

21 hours ago, tomato said:

Another stunning image. As well as the “cap” there are some light coloured filaments extending out from the galaxy on the LHS?

I’ve studied an image photo in the Cambridge Photographic Atlas of Galaxies, taken from the Mount Lemmon Sky Centre using a 800mm reflector,  41 hrs total integration time, and I cannot see them on that one. They are just discernable  on the APOD, drowned out somewhat by the Ha filaments. I have to say I prefer the balance of your image.

Wow, thank you for the high praise.  The pale arc was very visible in the luminance but I guess could easiy be lost if one is too aggressive in stretching, NR etc.  Thanks for the research.

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