The Great Nebula in Carina (NGC 3372)
Eta Carinae (NGC 3372) - The Carina Nebula.
"Backyard Astronomy" - photographed in the Light Pollution of the City. To see the difference, follow the link below to a more recent photo of the same Deep Sky Object in darker skies: www.flickr.com/photos/martin_heigan/26196012013/
About the Carina Nebula:
The Carina Nebula is the closest giant star-forming region to our Solar System, in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy (7 500 light years from Earth). It is situated in the Southern Hemisphere Constellation Carina (The Keel). The Carina Nebula (also called The Grand Nebula or Eta Carinae Nebula) is one of the largest Diffuse Nebulae in our skies, and contains at least two stars with a combined luminosity over five million times that of the Sun. The star Eta Carinae is at least a hundred times more massive than our star (the Sun), and is a candidate for a Supernova.
Telescopes are like time machines, and this is what the Carina Nebula looked like 7 500 years ago (as the light took that long to reach us, traveling at 300 000 km/s or 186 411 mi/s).
About this image:
Quick test exposures in light polluted skies after months of cloudy weather. Photographed mainly in the visible wavelengths of light, and the Hydrogen Alpha (Hα) Infrared spectral line of 656.28 nm. The mount was Polar Aligned, but due to the weather there was no time for Autoguiding or longer exposures to capture more of the subtle Hydrogen Nebulosity detail.
Star Colors:
You will notice that star colors differ from red, orange and yellow, to blue. This is an indication of the temperature of the star's Nuclear Fusion process. This is determined by the size and mass of the star, and the stage of its life cycle. In short, the blue stars are hotter, and the red ones are cooler.
Light Pollution Map:
Photographed at 26° Latitude South, close to the light polluted suburbs to the West of Johannesburg (Gauteng Province, South Africa). Light Pollution Map.
Tech:
Lights/Subs: 25 x 30 sec RAW exposures.
Calibration Frames: Bias and Dark frames from my Library.
Pre-Processing and Linear workflow in PixInsight, and finished in Photoshop.
Gear:
GSO 6" f/4 Imaging Newtonian Reflector Telescope.
Baader Mark-III MPCC Coma Corrector.
Astronomik CLS Light Pollution Filter.
Celestron AVX Mount.
Canon 60Da DSLR.
Astrometry Info:
nova.astrometry.net/user_images/1060749#annotated
About the Milky Way, and our Solar System's place within it:
The Milky Way Galaxy is estimated to have over 400 billion stars. Stars are suns, and just like in our Solar System, many of the stars have planets with moons orbiting them. Our sun is a middle aged Yellow Dwarf star, located in the Orion Arm (or Orion Spur) of the Milky Way Galaxy. It's a minor side spiral arm, located between two larger arms of the Milky Way Galaxy's spiral. The Milky Way is merely one mid-sized barred spiral Galaxy, amongst over 100 billion other Galaxies in the observable Universe. When we look up at the night sky from Earth, we see a glimpse of the Carina-Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. It takes about 250 million years for the Milky Way Galaxy's spiral arms to complete one rotation.
The size, distance and age of the Universe is far beyond human comprehension. The known Universe is estimated to contain over One Billion Trillion stars.
1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
Click on this link to view an image that illustrates ''our Solar System's position within the Milky Way Galaxy''.
Martin
-
[Home Page] [Photography Showcase] [My Free Photo App]
[Flickr Profile] [Facebook] [Twitter] [My Science & Physics Page]
The Great Nebula in Carina (NGC 3372)
Eta Carinae (NGC 3372) - The Carina Nebula.
"Backyard Astronomy" - photographed in the Light Pollution of the City. To see the difference, follow the link below to a more recent photo of the same Deep Sky Object in darker skies: www.flickr.com/photos/martin_heigan/26196012013/
About the Carina Nebula:
The Carina Nebula is the closest giant star-forming region to our Solar System, in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy (7 500 light years from Earth). It is situated in the Southern Hemisphere Constellation Carina (The Keel). The Carina Nebula (also called The Grand Nebula or Eta Carinae Nebula) is one of the largest Diffuse Nebulae in our skies, and contains at least two stars with a combined luminosity over five million times that of the Sun. The star Eta Carinae is at least a hundred times more massive than our star (the Sun), and is a candidate for a Supernova.
Telescopes are like time machines, and this is what the Carina Nebula looked like 7 500 years ago (as the light took that long to reach us, traveling at 300 000 km/s or 186 411 mi/s).
About this image:
Quick test exposures in light polluted skies after months of cloudy weather. Photographed mainly in the visible wavelengths of light, and the Hydrogen Alpha (Hα) Infrared spectral line of 656.28 nm. The mount was Polar Aligned, but due to the weather there was no time for Autoguiding or longer exposures to capture more of the subtle Hydrogen Nebulosity detail.
Star Colors:
You will notice that star colors differ from red, orange and yellow, to blue. This is an indication of the temperature of the star's Nuclear Fusion process. This is determined by the size and mass of the star, and the stage of its life cycle. In short, the blue stars are hotter, and the red ones are cooler.
Light Pollution Map:
Photographed at 26° Latitude South, close to the light polluted suburbs to the West of Johannesburg (Gauteng Province, South Africa). Light Pollution Map.
Tech:
Lights/Subs: 25 x 30 sec RAW exposures.
Calibration Frames: Bias and Dark frames from my Library.
Pre-Processing and Linear workflow in PixInsight, and finished in Photoshop.
Gear:
GSO 6" f/4 Imaging Newtonian Reflector Telescope.
Baader Mark-III MPCC Coma Corrector.
Astronomik CLS Light Pollution Filter.
Celestron AVX Mount.
Canon 60Da DSLR.
Astrometry Info:
nova.astrometry.net/user_images/1060749#annotated
About the Milky Way, and our Solar System's place within it:
The Milky Way Galaxy is estimated to have over 400 billion stars. Stars are suns, and just like in our Solar System, many of the stars have planets with moons orbiting them. Our sun is a middle aged Yellow Dwarf star, located in the Orion Arm (or Orion Spur) of the Milky Way Galaxy. It's a minor side spiral arm, located between two larger arms of the Milky Way Galaxy's spiral. The Milky Way is merely one mid-sized barred spiral Galaxy, amongst over 100 billion other Galaxies in the observable Universe. When we look up at the night sky from Earth, we see a glimpse of the Carina-Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. It takes about 250 million years for the Milky Way Galaxy's spiral arms to complete one rotation.
The size, distance and age of the Universe is far beyond human comprehension. The known Universe is estimated to contain over One Billion Trillion stars.
1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
Click on this link to view an image that illustrates ''our Solar System's position within the Milky Way Galaxy''.
Martin
-
[Home Page] [Photography Showcase] [My Free Photo App]
[Flickr Profile] [Facebook] [Twitter] [My Science & Physics Page]