NGC 5128 Centaurus A Galaxy under Bortle 8 Skies

[Startrek]

Being in the Southern Hemisphere we have plenty of the brighter galaxies available at the moment to image with a relatively small rig
Captured NGC 5128 Centaurus A Galaxy on the weekend with a descending 30% lit moon and Bortle 8 City skies

6” f6 GSO Newt ( really a visual scope but it performs well for AP , bought it for $250 6 years ago )
Skywatcher EQ6-R mount
ZWOASI2600MC cooled to -10C and Gain 100 LRN
No filters
Baader MPCC Mk3 CC
EQMOD , Ascom Stellarium and APT
PHD2 Multistar guiding 0.50 to 0.55 arc sec total
75 x 90 sec dithered guided subs
40 x Flats
50 x Bias
Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
Processed in Startools V1.7 OSC linear data set

Original frame (edges cropped for stacking artefacts )
Crop version
Super crop version

Comments welcome
Thanks

[Mike in Rancho]

Very cool! Sure seems to look better when it's not hugging the horizon.

And quite good even with the super crop (which...I think ended up in the middle?)

[Startrek]

Mike,
Thanks
Yes I was surprised at how much detail I could pull out with limited data
The 2600MC still surprises me after 18 months using it
We too have galaxies that only skirt the horizon for a quick look , like Andromeda. I have no view of it at both my imaging sites , I’m too low plus trees etc ...

Clear Skies
Martin

[admin]

Loving this Centaurus A!

If you are ever tempted, you could try adding some Chandra X-Ray observatory data, to visualise those - otherwise - invisible lobes.

[Startrek]

Thanks Ivo,
Loving Startools too
The humble 6” Newt is often a forgotten telescope when it comes to Astro imaging.The smaller refractors seem to be more popular.
I use mine to dabble in some planetary imaging as well. Being an f6 you have a focal length of 900mm which gives you a bit more flexibility, so I do chase after a hand full of the brighter galaxies ( up to mag 8 ) with good results
Having the 2600MC under the hood helps a lot too
Thanks for your nice comments and I’ll consider your creative suggestion.
Thanks again for all your hard work continually developing Startools, one of the best post processing software around

Cheers
Martin
aka Startrek