PMSA Astrophotography Web Page - Cookbook CB245 CCD

Centaurus 'A' Galaxy - NGC 5128

Early astronomers discovered an extremely powerful radio source coming from the direction of the constellation Centaurus which they named "Centaurus A". Subsequent visual observations revealed the radio source was in fact this elliptical shaped galaxy crossed by a massive dark dust lane. Centaurus A remains as one of the brightest extra-terrestrial radio sources in the entire sky. Belonging to the Messier 83 group of galaxies this galaxy is found 13-million light years away in the direction of the constellation Centaurus.

Image Details	20070323 NGC5128 Centaurus A Galaxy.
Telescope	Observatory mounted 12-inch f/5 Newtonian telescope on Losmandy Gemini G-11 equatorial mount.
Guiding	Autoguided with SBIG 402 on 4.5-inch f/9 guidescope using CCDSoft.
Camera	Canon EOS 300D Digital ( Hα enabled ) focused with DSLR Focus.
Exposure	46 min. exposure (23 x 2 min. sub-frames) @ ISO-400
Filter/equipment	2" Baader Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector (MPCC). 2" Baader UV/IR Rejection Filter.
Sky Conditions	Seeing: 6.5/10. Wind: 6/10. Moisture: 1/10. Very Hazy
Image Processing	Iris, Photoshop, RC-Astro GradientXTerminator (trial ed.).