The Carina Nebula
in True Colour
Click on the above thumbnails to view cropped regions of interest
Description
The Carina Nebula is one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the night sky. It outshines even the great Orion Nebula, although it is less well known due to its location far south in the constellation of Carina. At the heart of the nebula lies Eta Carinae, a hypergiant Wolf-Rayet star which belongs to the class of the most luminous stars in the Universe. Eta Carinae has erupted several times in the past, and fluctuated in brightness strongly within short periods of time, occasionally briefly becoming one of the brightest stars in the night sky.
I have also photographed this object in narrowband tri-palette false colour to highlight the different elements within the nebula. You may find the image in the link here.
Imaging Details
Location: Singapore (HA), Malaysia (RGB)
Date(s): May 2016
Telescope: FSQ85ED at f/5.3
Camera: SBIG ST8300M, Baader HaRGB filters
Mount: Losmandy G11/G2
Exposure: HA: 30x300sec (2.5h), RGB 15:20:20min
Image reduction, integration and processing with Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight.