NGC 3603 (bottom cloud) is an open cluster of stars situated in the Carina spiral arm of the Milky Way around 20,000 light-years away from our solar system. and is surrounded by the most massive visible cloud of glowing gas and plasma known as a H II region in the Milky Way.
NGC 3576 (top cloud) is a minor nebula in the Sagittarius arm of the galaxy a few thousand light-years away from the Eta Carinae nebula. It is much closer and smaller than the distant 3603.
Photo taken last night 16th Feb 2010.
16 x ten minute sub-exposures combined with darks and flats calibration in MaxIm DL Essentials. Levels and curves in Photoshop Elements 6.
Camera: Orion Starshoot Pro III CCD Color
Telescope: Skywatcher Black Diamond 120mm APO refractor
Mount: EQ6 Pro.
The good thing about this image Baz is that you have managed to differentiate the red colouring of the two nebulae, often images of these two nebulae present them as being basically the same hue, which they aren't, so nice work
I concur with Mike on this one. The first thing I look for is that colour differential, which is due to the huge distance between the two main objects. NGC 3603 should be a deeper red as it is in your image due to being further away and more affected by interstellar matter than the NGC 3576 complex. There is plenty of that 'interstellar matter,' in the form of the dark nebula top left as well. Very nice in deed.
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