NGC2442 | The Cobra and the Mouse (Kevin Morefield)

NGC2442 | The Cobra and the Mouse

I found this highly disturbed galaxy to be extraordinarily difficult to compose. My initial two framing choices sent 130 Luminance frames in the bin due to incursions of diffraction artifacts from bright stars outside the frame. I suspect the central baffle on the CDK17 needs to be extended to minimize this problem. My third and final framing attempt still suffered from some diffraction artifacts but in the end I cropped them out. Due to my multiple different framing attempts, I was a bit short of Luminance subs. My final Luminance uses 69 subs for the background But 128 subs for the two galaxies. Those 128 subs were chosen as the sharpest, being below 1.55" FWHM.

All credit for the final composition choice here goes to John Hayes. It was only when I saw his "Cobra and Mouse" version that I abandoned my "Meathook" take. Using the Cobra-like appearance really helps my mind feel the shot balanced. Most of the other rotations I tried left this awkward galaxy feeling like it was about to fall over. Our brains are a mystery...

Their is significant IFN or some such local nebulosity in the area around 2442. This seems to blend with the dust from 2442 that has been spread about from it's likely encounter with a disruptor. I'll include a full frame view that displays the local dust, though it is seen in the left of this frame too.

There are several interesting background galaxies in the frame and several that were sadly cropped out. I'm particularly fond of the little one shining through the larger ESO 59-11 on the right. If you get a chance, look at the full frame version if only to enjoy some of the other little galaxies.

I shot Ha for this but after cleaning the Red continuum out very little was left and didn't use it. That is consistent with how few active H2 regions we see in the LRGB version.

Original
Final
E
F

F

Title: Mouse Over

Description: Cobra Close Up

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	7668757
PixInsight job	AQV72H43UJSQI0UPHSAEEECXWTN9C8RL
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	07h36m58s.283
RA (top/left)	07h35m23s.179
RA (top/right)	07h39m00s.529
RA (bottom/right)	07h38m32s.142
RA (bottom/left)	07h34m56s.768

Dec (center)	-69°32′10″.45
Dec (top/left)	-69°40′12″.78
Dec (top/right)	-69°36′32″.94
Dec (bottom/right)	-69°24′04″.92
Dec (bottom/left)	-69°27′42″.30

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