Omega Centauri ( NGC 5139 ) - by Mike O'Day ( 500px.com/MikeODay ).

A deep look at Omega Centauri ( NGC 5139 ) - by Mike O'Day ( 500px.com/MikeODay )

 

This image is an attempt to look deeply into the mighty Omega Centauri star cluster and, by using HDR techniques, record as many of its faint members as possible whilst capturing and bringing out the colours of the stars, including in the core.

 

Image details:

 

Resolution ........ 0.586 arcsec/px

Rotation .......... 0.00 deg ( up is North )

Focal ............. 1375.99 mm

Pixel size ........ 3.91 um

Field of view ..... 58' 20.9" x 38' 55.1"

Image center ...... RA: 13 26 45.065 Dec: -47 28 27.26

 

Telescope: Orion Optics CT12 Newtonian ( mirror 300mm, fl 1200mm, f4 ).

Corrector: ASA 2" Coma Corrector Quattro 1.175x.

Effective Focal Length / Aperture : 1470mm f4.7

 

Mount: Skywatcher Eq8

Guiding: TSOAG9 Off-Axis-Guider, Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2, PHD2

 

Camera:

Nikon D5300 (unmodified) (sensor 23.5 x 15.6mm, 6016x4016 3.9um pixels)

 

Location:

Blue Mountains, Australia

Moderate light pollution ( pale green zone on darksitefinder.com map )

 

Capture ( May 2018 ):

8 sets of sub-images with exposure duration for each set doubling ( 2s to 240s ) all at ISO 250.

 

Processing:

Calibration: master bias, master flat and master dark

 

Integration in 8 sets

HDR combination

 

Pixinsight May 2018

 

Links:

500px.com/MikeODay

photo.net/photos/MikeODay

www.flickr.com/photos/mike-oday

Done