Carina Nebula

[thegableguy (Chris)]

Hi again

With Somnium's help I finally cracked the formula for drift aligning tonight. Very pleased. Unfortunately I don't yet have an intervalometer (arrives next week) so I was limited to 30-second exposures... so I took a lot - 54 - to see how much of a difference it makes. Turns out quite a lot!

I deliberately didn't look at others' images of this nebula - I wanted to guess at its colours. No idea if I got it right or not. If I had to guess I made it too magenta instead of red. Or it could just be way off in general. Let me know.

Any other critique is welcome too!

Cheers
Chris

Tarantula Nebula
Orion ED80, 0.85 flattener
NEQ6 Pro (unguided)
Nikon D3300
54 x 30 second subs
ISO 1600
27 darks
9 flats
9 bias

Stacked in DSS
Edited in Lightroom

[raymo]

Very nice Chris; I think you're right about the magenta.

I just noticed that you've incorrectly labelled your post, it is Eta Carina, not the Tarantula Neb.
raymo

[thegableguy (Chris)]

Ahhhh what an idiot! Can't be edited either. Argh.

Thanks Ray - I'll have another shot at the edit tomorrow, will Google some images of it and try to get the colour a little more on the money. But yeah just so pleased that I finally worked out how to align. It was really bugging me.

[Somnium (Aidan)]

Those stars are much better now, I am glad you got the pa working. This is definitely your best image, and one to be proud of, well done.

[thegableguy (Chris)]

Originally Posted by Somnium

Those stars are much better now, I am glad you got the pa working. This is definitely your best image, and one to be proud of, well done.

Thanks mate - the clarity of the stars is thanks in no small part to your help!

[raymo]

You can edit the title by clicking edit and then clicking advanced.
raymo

[thegableguy (Chris)]

Originally Posted by raymo

You can edit the title by clicking edit and then clicking advanced.
raymo

Ah!! Thanks for that, fixed.

[lineout]

Stunning photo. You've inspired me to get my kit out and give it a go.

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

nice one chris nice vibrance, maybe a little too magenta but it still looks striking.

russ

[thegableguy (Chris)]

Thanks! Actually had another go at the editing today, but after looking at a few less amateurish shots of it I think I need to try it again on a darker night (the moon was out for this one). Editing doesn't seem to bring out the fainter nebulosity around the fringes; that data just doesn't seem to be there.

And yeah I probably went a little overboard on the saturation in general. I'm new to it; I remember doing the same thing when I started landscape photography. Rookie mistake.

[Atmos (Colin)]

It looks pretty good, the colour on the second is better than the first. The reason you may not be blue to pull out more of the fainter nebulosity is because of the 30s subs. The fainter stuff will be hidden behind the camera noise, longs exposures will help with that once you get that working nicely

[Am (Andrias)]

Wow, well done, keep it up.

[rocco57au (Rocky)]

Very nice Chris!!!
I sure would like to get my hands on that drift alignment formula