The Ringtail Galaxy - NGC 4038/39 in Corvus
with 10" f/3.9 Astrograph
Uploaded 4/20/17

 
This
            11th magnitude pair of colliding galaxies rides low in western
            Corvus on April evenings, and deep exposures such as this 2 hour
            set reveal the extent of the twin tails of star spray from the
            collision. Two versions are shown here, the first is a conventional
            image and the second a negative image that has been contrast
            stretched even more to show the faint extensions. Also, I circled
            some of the 16 - 19th magnitude background galaxies.

            
Select an image size for a larger view:

1290 x 960

            
Select an image size for a larger view:

1290 x 960


Instrument:  10" f/3.9 Orion Astrograph Newtonian with Baader MPCC
Mount:  Astrophysics 1200 QMD
CCD Camera:  SBIG 10XME NABG with Enhanced Water Cooling
Guider: Meade DSI Pro  w/80mm piggyback refractor
Exposure:  2 hours total
AstroDon RGB Combine Ratio:  1: 1.05: 1.2
Location:  Payson, Arizona, Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing FWHM = 3 arcsec , Transparency 7/10
Outside Temperature:  45 F
CCD Temperature:  -20 C
Image Processing Tools: 
Maxim DL6:  Calibration, deblooming (Starizona Debloomer), aligning, stacking
PixInsight:  Curves, Deconvolution
Photoshop CS2:  Curves, Color Correction, Gradient removal (Grad Xterminator), Cleanup

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