A small part of The coma Galaxy cluster

[MikeD]

Hi all.

I got home late last night to clear skies.

So a quick plan to hit NGC5033 after seeing Johnh's great image.

My setup was configured to image with the 80Ed so after a rushed swap around I was slewing to NGC5033 using Cartes du ciel, when a cluster of galaxies crossed the fov.

I stopped the slew and decided to have a go at it.

Abell 1656 "The coma Galaxy cluster".

This image is just a small part of it around NGC4884

(FOV around 20 x 25 arcmin's)

14 @ 5 min's with my HX916 through my 10" newt

It would of course been better to have left the 80Ed as the imager had I planned this shot:rolleyes:

Map overlay from Skymap pro 10.

[barkis]

Cripes! The "More stars than grains of sand on all Earths Beaches"

Is tangible when you see an Image like this. All those Galaxies in one small piece of sky.

Glad you stopped your slew Mike, and grabbed this one.

Ron.

[Roy Batty]

What a coincidence there I was posting last night that this would be my next target...

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-deep-sky/79200-only-rough-but-promise-things-come.html

and up you come with a fine image.

The funny thing is you wished you used the ED80 and I want to use my C8-N, but of course it all comes down to imaging camera and scope used to get the scale you want - sometimes more trial and error on my part

Fingers crossed that we get some OK weather in the next few days so we can both get what we're aiming for

cheers

Keith

[moocher]

Loads of fuzzies!!! The distances in space are just awe inspiring and this image demonstats it perfectly!!! Even with a 10" Newt they are nothing more than smudges, although in reality each being an "island universe" in there own right....!!!! Great work Mike!!!

Alan:)

[MikeD]

Thanks guys.

Keith, shame I missed your post, I may have decided to leve the 80ED as was and go for it in the first place.

Looking forward to your'e results.

Mike.

[Dangerous-Dave]

Great shot and a nice idea to superimpose the starchart.

[acey]

A truly awe-inspiring image - and the overlay is extremely helpful. I observed this region visually with my 12" a few weeks ago and managed to identify about 10 galaxies in this field, where you've captured hundreds. I believe the distance is a third of a billion light years or thereabouts.

Andrew

[steppenwolf]

Excellent shot and I really like the star chart superimposed on top - subtle but effective!

[MikeD]

Thanks again.

Just to put the image into context

here is the view of the whole coma cluster.

The white box is the fov and position of my image

( the green is the galaxy labels)

[steppenwolf]

1, 2, 3, 4 ................. Some perspective!

[Psychobilly]

Very nicely done Mike...

The overlay is superb....

Peter....

[moocher]

I lost count after i took my shoes and socks off!!!

Alan:)

[blinky]

Right then..... Thats got me excited, I am gonna try and catch me some of those galaxies. Just need to decide which camera and scope to use Hmmmm???? Orion Deep Space Imager II and the little ZS66 should give a decent FoV me thinks!

Cracking image BTW reminicent of the hubble deep field image!

[Whippy]

It's a bit of an eyeopener when there's more galaxies than stars in that image. Greatv stuff Mike .

Tony..