The carina nebula

[Peter Ward]

I have been optimizing my Alluna RC16 imaging system for some time and am now getting some very gratifying results from the system.

Sorry, no snappy title. I'll let the image speak for itself.

Personally I think it is the best deep sky image I have obtained to date.
Of course it's also my favourite object: Eta Carina (one must not diverge from "the program" )

What makes the image special for me is the sense of depth and intrinsic resolution. Pristine stars stretched out to the very boundary of my KAF16803 CCD....measuring just a few microns out to the edge of this chip is no mean feat. The gear simply delivered superb raw data with a minimum of fuss...Also there are no dark-decon doughnuts to be seen around the stars here. No de-convolution filter was applied!

It's an H-alpha RGB blend: I've tried to keep the colours as accurate as possible. The web image is displayed with some cropping at just over 50% resolution.
Anyway...enough waffle from me.

The link is here

[DJScotty (Scott)]

Wow Peter. That's an amazing image.
That's all I can say
Scott

[Atmos (Colin)]

You've certainly picked up a lot of amazing detail Peter. Stunning image that's for sure!

Out of curiosity, how much did the Ha add compared to without it? Curious as to how much in picked up in the region via RGB with a 16" scope

[gregbradley]

Yes, you are right to be proud of that image. Hat's off to you, quite an accomplishment. All the more spectacular from the suburbs.

Greg.

[RickS (Rick)]

Impressive detail, Peter!

[multiweb (Marc)]

Ooo... that is spectacular. I was waiting for that one Definitely need to build a new cool wall for this one.

[Ausfitter (Troy)]

Wow that is amazing

[Paul Haese]

Superb image Peter. Detail is very sharp and colour is pleasing. It is significantly sharper than my image. I think you need to do some short subs to capture the homunculus thought. Well done.

[graham.hobart (Graham stevens)]

Ye Gods that's Good!!

[jase (Jason)]

Splendid Peter! I've been monitoring your results with the Alluna. This image is a testament to its capabilities. The 4" aperture imaging train distinguishes this OTA from the competitors. May as well take this opportunity to congratulate you on the forthcoming APOD too.

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by jase

Splendid Peter! I've been monitoring your results with the Alluna. This image is a testament to its capabilities. The 4" aperture imaging train distinguishes this OTA from the competitors. May as well take this opportunity to congratulate you on the forthcoming APOD too.

Thanks Jase. This image would have been very difficult to obtain without having a 4" dedicated corrector....I have yet to use the compressor! And thank you on the APOD...I've not mentioned this publically, but looks like the cat's out of the bag

Originally Posted by graham.hobart

Ye Gods that's Good!!

Ta muchly.

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

Superb image Peter. Detail is very sharp and colour is pleasing. It is significantly sharper than my image. I think you need to do some short subs to capture the homunculus thought. Well done.

Thank you Paul...I did infact do a few short subs on the homunculus but it looked rather weird in my efforts to show the details while still preserving the brightness of Eta...I went with the latter

Originally Posted by Ausfitter

Wow that is amazing

Thanks!

Originally Posted by multiweb

Ooo... that is spectacular. I was waiting for that one Definitely need to build a new cool wall for this one.

Thank you Marc...I guess you had a hunch I'd be tinkering in that part of the sky

Originally Posted by RickS

Impressive detail, Peter!

Ta...I rather like the string of bright edged globules extending from "the finger" to the right...the last one in the chain is rarely shown clearly...I now call it "the slug"

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Yes, you are right to be proud of that image. Hat's off to you, quite an accomplishment. All the more spectacular from the suburbs.

Greg.

Thanks Greg. I am humbled by the fact many of the "heavy hitters" seem to have chimed in on this one. Working from "the burbs" is still a pain, but short of moving everything to Chile...what can you do?

Originally Posted by Atmos

You've certainly picked up a lot of amazing detail Peter. Stunning image that's for sure!

Out of curiosity, how much did the Ha add compared to without it? Curious as to how much in picked up in the region via RGB with a 16" scope

Ta..there is about an hour and a bit of H-alpha. One hour each other channel.

Originally Posted by DJScotty

Wow Peter. That's an amazing image.
That's all I can say
Scott

Glad you like it

[topheart]

No need to move to Chile.

Congratulations - the best rendition I have seen.
Regards,
Tim

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Hmmmm... I was wearing socks a second ago! Quite amazing detail Peter. You can lose the hideous copyright though.

Marcus

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Hmmmm... I was wearing socks a second ago! Quite amazing detail Peter. You can lose the hideous copyright though.

Marcus

OK you win. Copyright watermarks now removed

Originally Posted by topheart

No need to move to Chile.

Congratulations - the best rendition I have seen.
Regards,
Tim

High praise indeed. Thank you

[Andy01 (Andy)]

That's beyond good, it's stellar (pardon the pun!)
Benchmark image and one for the rest of us mere mortals to aspire to.
..and you shot that from the 'burbs? OMG

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by Andy01

That's beyond good, it's stellar (pardon the pun!)
Benchmark image and one for the rest of us mere mortals to aspire to.
..and you shot that from the 'burbs? OMG

Thanks Andy.

Brighter objects like Carina are not too much of a struggle. It's the faint fuzzies that are a real challenge.

I can now also officially reveal it has made today's NASA APOD

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

I can now also officially reveal it has made today's NASA APOD

Congratulations Peter.
A worthy accolade for this stunning image.

RB

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

I can now also officially reveal it has made today's NASA APOD

Congratulations Peter - a worthy APOD indeed.
Can't remember seeing as much detail in this object before - a superb result.

[Somnium (Aidan)]

Wow, what an image Peter. i have no idea how you resolve that fine detail from Sydney, incredible. it is a shame that the APOD image has the watermarks on it though.

[gregbradley]

Congrats on your NASA APOD. Well deserved.

Greg.