Carina Nebula in Ha - first light for some new gear

[Craig_]

I acquired a ZWO AM5 mount recently to replace my EQ6-R. Last night was first light :) Being that it is full moon, the objective of the evening was more about getting familiar with the mount than actual data acquisition - getting any was a bonus.


As it happened, the mount was super easy to set up and I was guiding at 0.4" - 0.5" in no time. Carina Nebula wasn't my preferred target, as I imaged that quite a bit last season and wanted some new targets, but it was quite a suitable new mount test subject as it was on the opposite side of the sky to the moon, and is of course nice and large and bright.


Even in monochrome, it's quite a striking nebula.



ZWO AM5
ZWO 533MM Pro
ZWO OAG
ZWO 290MM Mini guide camera
ZWO EAF
ZWO ASIAir Plus
ZWO EFW
Chroma Ha 5nm
Esprit 80


46 * 180s

[RyanJones]

Super tight stars there Craig. I’ve been interested in hearing peoples opinions on these mounts. They certainly seem to be the goods and significantly more portable than the EQ6. I really like the way this image has come out too. So much detail in the gas clouds with less focus on the keyhole than you normally see. Very nice indeed.

Cheers

Ryan

[Ryderscope]

Top work Craig. Looks like a few of us using Carina for testing some new gear :D

[Craig_]

Cheers. It is a lovely nebula. I've spent too much time on it in recent years but it's hard to go past!




Thanks. I removed the stars to process the nebulosity and then added them back in which certainly helps keep them small, but in my raw subs the FWHM was pretty much as good as it's ever been for me so thumbs up there for the mount.

[Dave882]

Super detail and depth! Well done great image!