M 106

[Jim McMillan]

Thought I'd post the work I've done (or perhaps more correctly said "work ACP's done") over the last 2 nights.

On Tuesday night, I took 36, 10-min luminance exposures of M 106. On Wednesday night, I took 11,11,13 10-min RGB exposures of M 106. Additionally, I took 36 more 10 min luminance exposures of 2 other targets to fill the night. That totals 108, 10 min exposures. What's unique about that is that I didn't have to throw out any of them! The posted M 106 has no cropping done whatsoever.

It's supposed to be clear again tonight, so I'm going to try to add another 6 hours of luminance to this and see if I can tease out any more of the dim galaxy halo. The was processed on my laptop, so no guarantees on the color/brightness.

Jim

[David Grennan]

Thats a really fine result Jim. You can really see the amount of imaging time in there. Have you tried using a multi layer deconvoltion to bring out the really fine detail in the galaxy?

Heres a great video tutorial of the technique I came across. Well worth the effort.

http://www.rdelsol.net/ProcessingToo...ool%20Box.html

[Bob Denny]

Very nice!!!! Thanks for posting.

[Jim McMillan]

I've added about 14.5 hrs of additional luminance and reprocessed everything from the ground up. I did try some of the techniques Dave suggested (thanks, Dave), but I'm certainly not an expert yet!

Working with the data again caused me to look closely at both collimation and focusing. I was surprised to find that it had been almost 4 years since I'd done any new v-curves in FM (time sure flies). Interestly, I found them to be a little off. I'm not sure whether FM has changed somewhere along the line or whether I made a slight configuration change and never updated the v-curves. (I actually suspect the latter as I was able to take out a small ring to shorten the imaging train a while back...) In any event, I've got mixed data - e.g. about 1/2 of the new luminance data benefitted from better focusing and collimation. So, while I was able to bring out some more of the galaxy halo, I am still a bit disappointed that I wasn't able do a bit better with the detail in the galaxy center.

You can find the new, updated image attached in the original post.

Jim

[David Grennan]

Jim, That is an exceptional result, well worth every minute of the extra exposure. You can even see ha alpha regions in the smaller galaxy next to it.

With such a detailed image it might be worth looking closely at a full resolution image of the luminance and compare it with a detailed atlas (maybe the aladin interface) http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/
to see if you have managed to image any globulars inside M106. I'd say your image is good enough to see a result there.

One point on the 'constructuve criticism' side. Looking at the star spikes in the colour channels suggests that they might not be lined up perfectly. However the image doesnt seem to suffer if this is so.

Anyway congrats on a stunning result. One to frame and hang on the wall perhaps!

[Jim McMillan]

Hi Dave,

One point on the 'constructuve criticism' side. Looking at the star spikes in the colour channels suggests that they might not be lined up perfectly. However the image doesnt seem to suffer if this is so.

Yes, you're right. They don't line up. In fact, they're put there with software (Astronomy Tools). They're not an artifact of my SCT! I kinda like adding them because they tend to cover up the fact that the brighter stars end up having an extra reflection around them - particularly in the green channel. This is caused by the CCD cover plate reflecting on the chip itself. This is known problem with the ST8e. I was lazy adding them on this image. The best way is to add them to the luminance only, but I added them to the LRGB as an after thought.

Thanks again for your comments.

Jim

[Dick Berg]

Jim, this is a beautiful picture. I especially like the view of the tiny dwarf elliptical galaxy, known as UGC 7356, that is seen in the upper right corner of your image. There's a hint of detail in it as well. These are looking a lot like the pictures R Jay GaBany likes to take from the Canary Islands, especially for the extended wisps of gas surround these galaxies. This is the place where taking pretty pictures is intersecting with science in a big way. Here's just one example of what he's in to:

http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n1001/14m94/