Centaurus A

NGC 5128 is a galaxy bisected by a prominent dust lane. It is a radio emission galaxy with an active nucleus. It may be the result of two merged galaxies.

It is located just 4° from Omega Centauri.

Object Details:
Centaurus A, NGC 5128, C77, PGC 46947, Hamburger Galaxy.
Constellation: Centaurus.
Visual magnitude: +6.6
Apparent diameter: 26 x 20.0 arc-min. (slightly smaller than the Moon).
Actual diameter: 90,000 light years.
Distance: 12 million light years.

Image:
Exposure: 40 minutes
Date: 2018-05-02
Location: Leumeah, NSW.
Sky: outer suburban.
Cloud: no
Moon: Full Moon +2 days
Image acquisition software: SharpCap.
Image post-processing:  Deep Sky Stacker > GIMP.
Cropping: not sure now.

Gear:
Imaging telescope: Skywatcher Esprit 120ED Super APO triplet refractor.
Focal length: 840 mm, focal ratio: f/7.
Telescope mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R.
Field flattener: yes; filter: no.
Imaging camera: ZWO ASI 071 MC Pro
Polar aligning method: QHYCCD PoleMaster.
Polar alignment error: 2.7’ (PHD Guide Assistant).
Guiding: 1.0” > 1.2” RMS

SharpCap Camera Settings:
[ZWO ASI071MC Pro]
Debayer Preview=On
Pan=0
Tilt=0
Output Format=Fits files (*.fits)
Binning=2
Capture Area=4944×3284
Colour Space=RAW8
Hardware Binning=Off
Turbo USB=80(Auto)
Flip=None
Frame Rate Limit=Maximum
Gain=300(Auto)
Exposure=30
Timestamp Frames=Off
White Bal (B)=99(Auto)
White Bal (R)=35(Auto)
Brightness=44
Gamma=61
Temperature=15.5
Cooler Power=100
Target Temperature=-10
Cooler=On
Auto Exp Max Gain=300
Auto Exp Max Exp M S=30000
Auto Exp Target Brightness=100
Mono Bin=Off
Anti Dew Heater=On
Apply Flat=None
Subtract Dark=None
Display Brightness=1
Display Contrast=1
Display Gamma=1
TimeStamp=2018-05-02T12:29:16.4152528Z

Observing Notes:
Test night for EQ6R following repair.

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Image © R.Powell

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