Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Corvus (Crv)  ·  Contains:  Antennae  ·  NGC 4038  ·  NGC 4039
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NGC 4038/4039, The Antennae Galaxies, 27 Mar 2015, David Dearden
NGC 4038/4039, The Antennae Galaxies, 27 Mar 2015
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NGC 4038/4039, The Antennae Galaxies, 27 Mar 2015

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Description

This is a first-time observation of this target for me. I wasn't going to attempt it, feeling it was too small to produce a good image, until I started checking others' images on Astrobin and realized the "antennae" tidal tails extended way beyond the two galaxies and ought to be visible. I literally watched this target come over the edge of the mountain as I synced from δ Crt and did a PicGoto slew to it just as it was rising. Gusty wind is making my guiding highly problematic at the beginning of this run. It is also quite warm; CCD is starting at 16.5 °C. I need to repair my chiller. Very heavy stretching and processing were required to make the tidal tails visible, but they are there. This image would benefit greatly from darker skies; there was probably a bit too much Moon this time. This is certainly one of the more difficult targets I've tried so far.

Date: 27 Mar 2015

Subject: NGC 4038/4039, The Antennae Galaxies

Scope: Astrotech AT8IN+High Point Scientific coma corrector

Filter: Baader Fringe Killer

Mount: CG-5 (Synta motors, PicGoto Simplificado)

Guiding: 9x50 Finder/Guider + DSI Ic + PHD 2.4.1 (Win 7 ASCOM)

Camera: DSI IIc no cooling (about 15 °C)

Acquisition: Nebulosity 3.3.3, no dither

Exposure: 22x600 s

Stacking: Neb 3.3.3, bad pixel map, bias included, 33 flats, histogram match, deBayer & square. DSS 2x drizzle kappa (1.5) sigma stack.

Processing: StarTools 1.3.5.289 Crop; Wipe: 84%; Develop: 74.99%; HDR:Reveal core; Color:Scientific 200%; Deconvolute 5.0 pix; Track 6.3 pix, smoothness 95%; Magic:Shrink 2 pix. Photoshop CC 2014 + Carboni Astronomy Tools Deep space nr; space nr; Increase star color; GradientXterminator med low; Levels; Astroframe.

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NGC 4038/4039, The Antennae Galaxies, 27 Mar 2015, David Dearden