2019 Oct. 5 ~ The Eta Carinae Nebula & surrounding Milky Way (200 mm lens)
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I'VE FINALLY GOTTEN AROUND TO PROCESSING THIS IMAGE!
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Photographed 40 km south of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, between 04.27 and 04.35 CAST (Central Australia Standard Time)
* Observing site: Long. 133.69° E. | Lat. 23.98° S. | Elev. 612m
* Altitude of centre of frame at time of exposures: ~21°
* Total exposure time: 7 minutes
* 200 mm focal length lens
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Description:
NOTE: This is a wider angle view of much higher magnification image of the Eta Carina Nebula made with a 660 mm focal length telescope 8 nights earlier near Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (Ayers Rock), which you can see here:
www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/49141569982
One of the most intriguing hydrogen gas clouds in the entire sky is this giant object in the far southern constellation Carina (the Keel). This nebula and the associated star clusters are located only 13 degrees from the centre of the Southern Cross, which is the well-known star pattern in the constellation Crux (the Cross).
The hydrogen gas in this nebula is excited into an ionized state by the nearby star Eta Carinae, which lies at a distance of 7,500 light years from our solar system. Eta Carinae is one of the most massive, luminous stars known, with a brightness more than 5 million times that of our own Sun.
Eta is a cataclysmic variable star, which has brightened and faded remarkably over the last two centuries. In 1843 Eta briefly became the second brightest star of the sky, before fading well below naked eye visibility after 1856. In recent decades Eta has brightened noticeably, so that now it can be seen easily from a moderately dark sky location, at magnitude 4.2. For more information about this star, click here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eta_Carinae
This nebula is a nursery of new star formation, which accounts for the many embedded open clusters of stars that are shown in this image. One of them (Trumpler 14), which is the small cluster just slightly to right of and above centre in this view, is extremely young; only half a million years old. It contains about 2,000 stars, and is ~6 light years in diameter.
Apart from the prominent nebula, this region of the Milky Way is strewn with open star clusters that are cosmologically very young, and typically consist of bluish (hot) stars.
For a version of this image with labels and showing constellation boundaries, click on the RIGHT side of your screen, or click here:
www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/54779207955
Here is a photo of the gear that used for astrophotography on this trip:
www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/49017804808
___________________________________________
Technical information:
Nikkor AF-S 70-200 mm f/2.8 G ED VRII lens on Nikon D810a camera body, mounted on iOptron CEM40 equatorial mount
Seven stacked frames; each frame:
200 mm focal length
ISO 5000; 1 minute exposure at f/4.5; unguided
Subframes registered in RegiStar;
Stacked and processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, contrast, levels, colour balance, colour desaturation)
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2019 Oct. 5 ~ The Eta Carinae Nebula & surrounding Milky Way (200 mm lens)
***************************************************************************
I'VE FINALLY GOTTEN AROUND TO PROCESSING THIS IMAGE!
___________________________________________
Photographed 40 km south of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, between 04.27 and 04.35 CAST (Central Australia Standard Time)
* Observing site: Long. 133.69° E. | Lat. 23.98° S. | Elev. 612m
* Altitude of centre of frame at time of exposures: ~21°
* Total exposure time: 7 minutes
* 200 mm focal length lens
___________________________________________
Description:
NOTE: This is a wider angle view of much higher magnification image of the Eta Carina Nebula made with a 660 mm focal length telescope 8 nights earlier near Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (Ayers Rock), which you can see here:
www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/49141569982
One of the most intriguing hydrogen gas clouds in the entire sky is this giant object in the far southern constellation Carina (the Keel). This nebula and the associated star clusters are located only 13 degrees from the centre of the Southern Cross, which is the well-known star pattern in the constellation Crux (the Cross).
The hydrogen gas in this nebula is excited into an ionized state by the nearby star Eta Carinae, which lies at a distance of 7,500 light years from our solar system. Eta Carinae is one of the most massive, luminous stars known, with a brightness more than 5 million times that of our own Sun.
Eta is a cataclysmic variable star, which has brightened and faded remarkably over the last two centuries. In 1843 Eta briefly became the second brightest star of the sky, before fading well below naked eye visibility after 1856. In recent decades Eta has brightened noticeably, so that now it can be seen easily from a moderately dark sky location, at magnitude 4.2. For more information about this star, click here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eta_Carinae
This nebula is a nursery of new star formation, which accounts for the many embedded open clusters of stars that are shown in this image. One of them (Trumpler 14), which is the small cluster just slightly to right of and above centre in this view, is extremely young; only half a million years old. It contains about 2,000 stars, and is ~6 light years in diameter.
Apart from the prominent nebula, this region of the Milky Way is strewn with open star clusters that are cosmologically very young, and typically consist of bluish (hot) stars.
For a version of this image with labels and showing constellation boundaries, click on the RIGHT side of your screen, or click here:
www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/54779207955
Here is a photo of the gear that used for astrophotography on this trip:
www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/49017804808
___________________________________________
Technical information:
Nikkor AF-S 70-200 mm f/2.8 G ED VRII lens on Nikon D810a camera body, mounted on iOptron CEM40 equatorial mount
Seven stacked frames; each frame:
200 mm focal length
ISO 5000; 1 minute exposure at f/4.5; unguided
Subframes registered in RegiStar;
Stacked and processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, contrast, levels, colour balance, colour desaturation)
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