M63 with tidal loops and extended spiral arms.

[ollypenrice]

A deep dive with Paul Kummer (capture and pre-processing.) This had 9 hours in the RASA 8, equivalent to about 40 hours in a fast refractor of comparable focal length. After 3 hours we were going well but 9 hours brought out more structure and, of particular interest, the uppermost spiral arm winding anticlockwise in this orientation. This arm is a new one to me and was an exciting find in the processing.

Edit: please scroll down for a version using TEC140 data to enhance the core.

This is a close crop and is presented at one-to-one here: https://ollypenrice.smugmug.com/Other/Galaxies/i-sgC3bGn/A

Olly

 

Edited March 18 by ollypenrice

[gorann]

That is deep Olly! The RASA is a fantastic tool for finding new things.

Göran

[Icesheet]

The depth the RASA has achieved in this image is amazing. Given it's a significant crop, the level of detail is very good too, but I wonder if you plan to use the TEC140 data you have here? Whilst I appreciate the depth the RASA has achieved I'm more drawn to the level of detail in TEC image,but why compromise when you can have the best of both worlds? Give the people what the want @ollypenrice!

[ollypenrice]

4 hours ago, Icesheet said:

The depth the RASA has achieved in this image is amazing. Given it's a significant crop, the level of detail is very good too, but I wonder if you plan to use the TEC140 data you have here? Whilst I appreciate the depth the RASA has achieved I'm more drawn to the level of detail in TEC image,but why compromise when you can have the best of both worlds? Give the people what the want @ollypenrice!

  This is just what tried to do and have done many times before, but I haven't yet managed to make it work this time. In fact, scaled to fit the RASA image, there is not all that much more resolution in the TEC than the RASA. If I were to rescale in the other direction, making the RASA image larger, I'd be lifting the noise in the RASA and it's already on the ragged edge of the possible stretch. It doesn't help that the TEC field of view stops short of the upper spiral arm.

If I can come up with any new ways of making the composite I'll give them a try.

The obvious solution would be a RASA 14.... If the people would like to give Olly one, he'd be most willing to accept it! 👌

Olly

Edit: there is another problem, too. The TEC's resolution requires dynamic range, ie contrasts within the central spiral arms. In the ultra-deep RASA image a lot of the lower dynamic range has been used by the faint outer streams so the dark stuff in the central spiral is brighter and can't be as contrasty. I'd be in danger of having the tidal streams brighter than the dark regions between the bright spiral and, in reality, they are not.

Edited March 18 by ollypenrice

[ollypenrice]

9 hours ago, Icesheet said:

The depth the RASA has achieved in this image is amazing. Given it's a significant crop, the level of detail is very good too, but I wonder if you plan to use the TEC140 data you have here? Whilst I appreciate the depth the RASA has achieved I'm more drawn to the level of detail in TEC image,but why compromise when you can have the best of both worlds? Give the people what the want @ollypenrice!

OK, thanks for the encouragement! I tried again to exploit the TEC data in the inner galaxy and came up with the image below. To my surprise it was easy to upsample the RASA image to the scale needed for the TEC resolution to show.

Full size is here: https://ollypenrice.smugmug.com/Other/Galaxies/i-psSP6gB/A

Olly

 

[Mr Spock]

Excellent image 👍

[jjohnson3803]

Wow!  That's outstanding!

[Icesheet]

Outstanding! Thank you for making it, and well worth the effort. 👏🏻