Crux to Carina widefield

[cometcatcher]

Going by the clouds that just rolled in, I'd say this is the end of the clear nights with my very first DSLR. Apart from having an endless flu, it has been a fun week of wide field shots with my new Pentax K-x. If I only had a camera like this when I started astrophotography some 30 years ago! It will be nice to have on hand when the next comet flies by.

Details, 6 x 3 minute subs at ISO 800, stacking and darks done in DSS, photoshop to touch it up. Pentax K-x, 50mm standard F2 lens stopped to F2.8 (could have done with F4) with a Lumicon deep sky filter, hence the colour shift. It's a great nebula filter for an unmodded camera as any nebula in the field really stands out.

Edit, also captured a shot of Eta-Carina with a 200mm lens with the DSF. 14 x 2 minutes for this one.

[casstony]

I like the widefield with the false star colours - my favourite part of the sky.

[mikerr]

Kevin, the wide field shot has even captured the "Dark Doodad" with NGC 4372 at it's Southern end. :thumbsup:

Internet image of "Dark Doodad" here... http://www.capella-observatory.com/ImageHTMLs/StarFields/NGC4372.htm

Beautiful image. Thanks for sharing.

Michael.

[cometcatcher]

That Doodad nebula is a funny one. I shall have to add it to my hit list.

[Vasya Pupkin]

It is interesting, that there are some objects that are being liked. For the Southern hemisphere, I see, they are Crux, Carinae nebula, Centaurus A, M42, M20 and M83. But this classic is good, because it is classic.

[skysurfer]

How did you get the stars of Crux so green ?

[cometcatcher]

The green is an effect of the Lumicon Deep Sky filter. It shifts blue / white stars to green. A chap on another forum gave me a tip on how to restore the colours to a more natural tone with a photoshop HLVG plugin.

Here's a repo of the frame with the plugin.