Famous five - second time round

Folks - I posted a Quintet image before. But this has nearly two hours worth of luminance. I processed it hard to bring out the galaxies' detail.

Star Clusters Born in the Wreckage of Cosmic Collisions
In the beginning of the 1946 holiday film classic "It's a Wonderful Life," angelic figures take on the form of a famous group of compact galaxies known as Stephan's Quintet.

In reality, these galaxies aren't so heavenly. Pictures from the Hubble telescope show that Stephan's Quintet has been doing some devilish things. At least two of the galaxies have been involved in high-speed, hit-and-run accidents, which have ripped stars and gas from neighboring galaxies and tossed them into space. But the galactic carnage also has spawned new life. Arising from the wreckage are more than 100 star clusters and several dwarf galaxies.

Hope you like it...

Stephan's Quintet

Cheers

Dave

What a traffic jam alright! :twisted:

I've read that story somewhere before about that film!

How bright are them galaxies viually?

Keith.

Keith - they vary between 12.5 and 14.2 - you'd probably need a 6" reflector or better and dark skies. That said, you'd need something even bigger to observe any kind of detail...

Cheers
Dave

I might try them this week with clear skies on the way!!

Keith..

Clear skies? Happy days! Starting to get cabin fever here...

Keep us posted on progress

I might try them this week with clear skies on the way!!

Keith..

what clear skies???, its supposed to be clear here now, and its 4/5ths cloud, cold but useless. I havent seen through the scope in a few weeks now and I think I'm starting to suffer :x