RickJ
2008-Jul-13, 03:26 AM
I've attached my image at 0.25" per pixel with some of the arcs identified and for laughs Hubble's version. It may have the advantage of a bigger mirror, no atmosphere and thus higher resolution but I do have at least a $1.5 billion dollar cost advantage! The image is enlarged to 0.25" of arc per pixel.
Arc A, galaxy 362 and galaxy 468 are all the SAME galaxy. It is located some 10.7 billion light years from us and 8.6 billion light years beyond the lensing cluster Abell 2218. Arc A has a magnitude of 22.35. Arc 362 is listed by NED as magnitude 24.52 while 468 is magnitude 23.74 Image 468 is virtually undistorted but even Hubble can't see much detail in it. This is a very interesting galaxy. You can read more about it at:
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/astro-ph/p.../9802230v1.pdf
This is a PDF file so you need a PDF reader to view it.
The idea I could see things this faint is far beyond my expectations when I designed the observatory. Note the article says the true magnitude of the galaxy is 14.5 times fainter than this. So I'm only seeing it thanks to one of the universe's largest telescopes, one that is millions of light years in aperture but with a rather imperfect lens.
Arc H is rather bright in Hubble's image but my CCD is rather insensitive to its red color making it harder for me to pick up. It is listed as being 6.1 billion light years from us, 4 beyond the imaging cluster and is listed at magnitude 24.4 which seems low to me.
Arc 323 is listed at 22.2 magnitude and is only 4.1 million light years away so it is about as far from the lensing cluster as we are from the cluster. It may be the brightest arc but it is rather lost in the galaxy at my resolution making it hard to see in my image.
Arc L is interesting in that it is two arcs if you look closely at the Hubble image. A blue arc and a rather small red blob near one end. Redshift data shows both to be at the same distance of 7.6 billion light years and the combination shines at magnitude 23.4.
The remaining object is galaxy 308. It too seems rather undistorted. It is magnitude 23.39 and is 5.6 billion light years away. If you compare the two images other lensed galaxies can be seen as well but I was unable to get much info on them so I'll stop here.
The enormous elliptical galaxy that anchors the cluster isn't listed anyplace I can find! The only bright galaxy NED or SIMBAD list near that location is LEDA 140648. That is the small round elliptical about 8" of arc below the main galaxy in my shot. In any case the cluster is listed at 2.07 billion light years.
If by chance the seeing and transparency needed ever return with it high in the sky like this I'll be trying for more data. But at once in 3 years, don't hold your breath.
Sorry about the satellites. Sigma reject was slightly noisier than the add combine I used so I couldn't process them out that way and my cloning abilities were all too obvious so you will have to ignore them.
14" LX200R @ f/10, L=6x20' binned 1x1, RGB=2x20' binned 2x2,
STL-11000XM, Paramount ME
My image with less compression is at:
http://www.spacebanter.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2037&stc=1
Rick
Arc A, galaxy 362 and galaxy 468 are all the SAME galaxy. It is located some 10.7 billion light years from us and 8.6 billion light years beyond the lensing cluster Abell 2218. Arc A has a magnitude of 22.35. Arc 362 is listed by NED as magnitude 24.52 while 468 is magnitude 23.74 Image 468 is virtually undistorted but even Hubble can't see much detail in it. This is a very interesting galaxy. You can read more about it at:
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/astro-ph/p.../9802230v1.pdf
This is a PDF file so you need a PDF reader to view it.
The idea I could see things this faint is far beyond my expectations when I designed the observatory. Note the article says the true magnitude of the galaxy is 14.5 times fainter than this. So I'm only seeing it thanks to one of the universe's largest telescopes, one that is millions of light years in aperture but with a rather imperfect lens.
Arc H is rather bright in Hubble's image but my CCD is rather insensitive to its red color making it harder for me to pick up. It is listed as being 6.1 billion light years from us, 4 beyond the imaging cluster and is listed at magnitude 24.4 which seems low to me.
Arc 323 is listed at 22.2 magnitude and is only 4.1 million light years away so it is about as far from the lensing cluster as we are from the cluster. It may be the brightest arc but it is rather lost in the galaxy at my resolution making it hard to see in my image.
Arc L is interesting in that it is two arcs if you look closely at the Hubble image. A blue arc and a rather small red blob near one end. Redshift data shows both to be at the same distance of 7.6 billion light years and the combination shines at magnitude 23.4.
The remaining object is galaxy 308. It too seems rather undistorted. It is magnitude 23.39 and is 5.6 billion light years away. If you compare the two images other lensed galaxies can be seen as well but I was unable to get much info on them so I'll stop here.
The enormous elliptical galaxy that anchors the cluster isn't listed anyplace I can find! The only bright galaxy NED or SIMBAD list near that location is LEDA 140648. That is the small round elliptical about 8" of arc below the main galaxy in my shot. In any case the cluster is listed at 2.07 billion light years.
If by chance the seeing and transparency needed ever return with it high in the sky like this I'll be trying for more data. But at once in 3 years, don't hold your breath.
Sorry about the satellites. Sigma reject was slightly noisier than the add combine I used so I couldn't process them out that way and my cloning abilities were all too obvious so you will have to ignore them.
14" LX200R @ f/10, L=6x20' binned 1x1, RGB=2x20' binned 2x2,
STL-11000XM, Paramount ME
My image with less compression is at:
http://www.spacebanter.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2037&stc=1
Rick