The Ringtail Galaxy - NGC 4038/39 in Corvus
with 10" f/3.9 Astrograph
Uploaded 4/20/17

This 11th magnitude pair of colliding galaxies rides low in western Corvus on April evenings, and deep exposures such as this 2 hour set reveal the extent of the twin tails of star spray from the collision. Two versions are shown here, the first is a conventional image and the second a negative image that has been contrast stretched even more to show the faint extensions. Also, I circled some of the 16 - 19th magnitude background galaxies.
Select an image size for a larger view: 1290 x 960
Select an image size for a larger view: 1290 x 960
Instrument: 10" f/3.9 Orion Astrograph Newtonian with Baader MPCC Mount: Astrophysics 1200 QMD CCD Camera: SBIG 10XME NABG with Enhanced Water Cooling Guider: Meade DSI Pro w/80mm piggyback refractor Exposure: 2 hours total AstroDon RGB Combine Ratio: 1: 1.05: 1.2 Location: Payson, Arizona, Elevation: 5150 ft. Sky: Seeing FWHM = 3 arcsec , Transparency 7/10 Outside Temperature: 45 F CCD Temperature: -20 C Image Processing Tools: Maxim DL6: Calibration, deblooming (Starizona Debloomer), aligning, stacking PixInsight: Curves, Deconvolution Photoshop CS2: Curves, Color Correction, Gradient removal (Grad Xterminator), Cleanup HOME GALAXIES EMISSION NEBS REFLECTION NEBS COMETS GLOBULARS OPEN CLUST PLANETARIES LINKS