Hi all

This image of the great Globular Cluster, Omega Centauri (NGC5139) was captured on the 15th March from my backyard on the Central Coast of NSW.

It consists of 21x 300s exposures @ ISO400, with an ED80, unmodified Canon 350D and WO 0.8x reducer. Auto-guided using PHD + DMK combo. Darks were ICNR, flats calibrated in ImagesPlus.

ImagesPlus used for calibration and stacking (add) and DDP, and Photoshop for further processing.

NGC5139 - Omega Centauri (click the image to see the larger size).

I'm very happy with how this one turned out. I was very conscious of preserving the star colours, especially the red/orange stars scattered in and around the globular. There were some gradients to the bottom/right due to the direction of Sydney that were a bit of a pain to process out.

Thanks for looking.

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Mike
. mikesalway.com.au - Astronomy and Photography by Mike Salway
. IceInSpace - The Australian Amateur Astronomy Community
. My Bio | My Jupiter 2007 Gallery | My Image Gallery

Mike,

Great globular shot. I agree that you got the colors right, and the density of that object is just amazing.

--Andy

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Observatorio de la Ballona

Hi Mike.
That is one fine image you got there. Great work thanks for sharing.

It sure didn't look that dense when I saw it in a 12.5" scope from down near the Mexican border. Seemed you could see right through it. Must have missed a lot of faint stars.

You picked up some faint fuzzies as well in the background.

I saw it from Nebraska just skimming the southern horizon. Down there it was just a faint fuzz patch in a good 10" scope. It's well below my horizon up here.

What's the reason for the slight focal compressor? Does it flatten the field?

Rick

Beautiful. As I see it as well. I posted one a week ago which had the density but no where near your colour range or clarity. Stunning work.

Kind regards
Matt