ASTRO: NGC 5053

After listening to me grump all winter here's the one good one I'm very
happy with. Now if they'd all come out this well!

Once in a rare while seeing gets good here. It was taken in December
with a rather bothersome moon in the sky. But seeing this night was the
best I've ever had, 2.08" FWHM. My next goal is to break the 2" barrier.
My M92 shot was taken with 2.2" FWHM so nearly as good. I save such
nights for globulars which seem to need good seeing more than anything
else I image. Unfortunately it didn't last. I'd hoped to also get M53
but the clouds rolled in after only one round of color data. Enough for
stars however. I think this my best globular to date. This likely
would have been better binned 1x1 but I saw the clouds coming an decided
it wasn't worth the risk as I need 4 times the exposure time when binned
1x1. Turns out I was right.

I see the Sloan Deep Sky Survey shows this guy has a 6 degree long tidal
tail. This explains why it is so star poor. The Milky Way has been
ripping its stars away. I don't see any hint of the tail in my image
however. It is likely very sparse and faint. Spectra are likely needed
to separate which are tidal tail stars and which field stars.

The asteroid is 2004 SX11 at magnitude 19.6. It's toward the top a bit
left of the globular's center.

I've done no sharpening or deconvolution on this image. That's just how
good seeing was this night. Sure wish it happened more than once every
3 years. In measuring the stars I'd come across a few with 3"+ FWHM.
Looking the position up in NED showed a 2MASX galaxy nearly every time.
I assume the others are galaxies as well. A couple are hiding among
the globulars stars. Other, nearer or larger galaxies, are obvious
around the edges of the globular.

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10' RGB=1x10' binned 3x3, STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Rick

--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

"Rick Johnson" wrote in message
...
After listening to me grump all winter here's the one good one I'm very
happy with. Now if they'd all come out this well!

Once in a rare while seeing gets good here. It was taken in December
with a rather bothersome moon in the sky. But seeing this night was the
best I've ever had, 2.08" FWHM. My next goal is to break the 2" barrier.
My M92 shot was taken with 2.2" FWHM so nearly as good. I save such
nights for globulars which seem to need good seeing more than anything
else I image. Unfortunately it didn't last. I'd hoped to also get M53
but the clouds rolled in after only one round of color data. Enough for
stars however. I think this my best globular to date. This likely
would have been better binned 1x1 but I saw the clouds coming an decided
it wasn't worth the risk as I need 4 times the exposure time when binned
1x1. Turns out I was right.

I see the Sloan Deep Sky Survey shows this guy has a 6 degree long tidal
tail. This explains why it is so star poor. The Milky Way has been
ripping its stars away. I don't see any hint of the tail in my image
however. It is likely very sparse and faint. Spectra are likely needed
to separate which are tidal tail stars and which field stars.

The asteroid is 2004 SX11 at magnitude 19.6. It's toward the top a bit
left of the globular's center.

I've done no sharpening or deconvolution on this image. That's just how
good seeing was this night. Sure wish it happened more than once every
3 years. In measuring the stars I'd come across a few with 3"+ FWHM.
Looking the position up in NED showed a 2MASX galaxy nearly every time.
I assume the others are galaxies as well. A couple are hiding among
the globulars stars. Other, nearer or larger galaxies, are obvious
around the edges of the globular.

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10' RGB=1x10' binned 3x3, STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Rick

--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".


EXCELLENT!!!

THANKS for posting!!!

While I'm primarily a visual observer, this kind of image is what THAT's all
about...

This is one of those images that merge the best of the photographic imaging
and visual observing worlds, and my congrats to you for the work I know went
into it...

--
Jan Owen

To reach me directly, remove the Z, if one appears in my e-mail address...
Latitude: 33.6
Longitude: -112.3
http://community.webshots.com/user/janowen21

very nice image Rick

I am happy you were able to get good conditions for a change

Maybe spring will bring better skies for you whenever it decides to warm up.


"Rick Johnson" wrote in message
...
After listening to me grump all winter here's the one good one I'm very
happy with. Now if they'd all come out this well!

Once in a rare while seeing gets good here. It was taken in December
with a rather bothersome moon in the sky. But seeing this night was the
best I've ever had, 2.08" FWHM. My next goal is to break the 2" barrier.
My M92 shot was taken with 2.2" FWHM so nearly as good. I save such
nights for globulars which seem to need good seeing more than anything
else I image. Unfortunately it didn't last. I'd hoped to also get M53
but the clouds rolled in after only one round of color data. Enough for
stars however. I think this my best globular to date. This likely
would have been better binned 1x1 but I saw the clouds coming an decided
it wasn't worth the risk as I need 4 times the exposure time when binned
1x1. Turns out I was right.

I see the Sloan Deep Sky Survey shows this guy has a 6 degree long tidal
tail. This explains why it is so star poor. The Milky Way has been
ripping its stars away. I don't see any hint of the tail in my image
however. It is likely very sparse and faint. Spectra are likely needed
to separate which are tidal tail stars and which field stars.

The asteroid is 2004 SX11 at magnitude 19.6. It's toward the top a bit
left of the globular's center.

I've done no sharpening or deconvolution on this image. That's just how
good seeing was this night. Sure wish it happened more than once every
3 years. In measuring the stars I'd come across a few with 3"+ FWHM.
Looking the position up in NED showed a 2MASX galaxy nearly every time.
I assume the others are galaxies as well. A couple are hiding among
the globulars stars. Other, nearer or larger galaxies, are obvious
around the edges of the globular.

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10' RGB=1x10' binned 3x3, STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Rick

--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

Phantastic image Rick, just saw it at "spacebanter.com".
Stars looks as good as they only can in good seeing, I don't know of any
sharpening filters that can "save" a globular picture that was taken under
bad seeing.

Stefan

great image Rick

Rick Johnson wrote:
After listening to me grump all winter here's the one good one I'm very
happy with. Now if they'd all come out this well!

Once in a rare while seeing gets good here. It was taken in December
with a rather bothersome moon in the sky. But seeing this night was the
best I've ever had, 2.08" FWHM. My next goal is to break the 2" barrier.
My M92 shot was taken with 2.2" FWHM so nearly as good. I save such
nights for globulars which seem to need good seeing more than anything
else I image. Unfortunately it didn't last. I'd hoped to also get M53
but the clouds rolled in after only one round of color data. Enough for
stars however. I think this my best globular to date. This likely
would have been better binned 1x1 but I saw the clouds coming an decided
it wasn't worth the risk as I need 4 times the exposure time when binned
1x1. Turns out I was right.

I see the Sloan Deep Sky Survey shows this guy has a 6 degree long tidal
tail. This explains why it is so star poor. The Milky Way has been
ripping its stars away. I don't see any hint of the tail in my image
however. It is likely very sparse and faint. Spectra are likely needed
to separate which are tidal tail stars and which field stars.

The asteroid is 2004 SX11 at magnitude 19.6. It's toward the top a bit
left of the globular's center.

I've done no sharpening or deconvolution on this image. That's just how
good seeing was this night. Sure wish it happened more than once every
3 years. In measuring the stars I'd come across a few with 3"+ FWHM.
Looking the position up in NED showed a 2MASX galaxy nearly every time.
I assume the others are galaxies as well. A couple are hiding among
the globulars stars. Other, nearer or larger galaxies, are obvious
around the edges of the globular.

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10' RGB=1x10' binned 3x3, STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Rick


------------------------------------------------------------------------


--
John N. Gretchen III
N5JNG NCS304
http://www.tisd.net/~jng3

"Rick Johnson" wrote
...

That's a truly wonderful image Rick!

.....
...... My next goal is to break the 2" barrier......

That should be easy...... from the Florida Keys or a nice Caribbean island!


Rod B recently e-mailed me an image of the Omega Centauri cluster taken
with his Meade SCT from his place in the Keys and it was super.

George N