Carina Nebula in Optical and Near Infrared + HD Video

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Hi All,

I've been busy gathering data for the last couple of months. We have enjoyed the most amazing string of clear nights here in Auckland this summer and it seems to never end. I must admit I'm getting slighty worn out now... But I did get time to process a bit of the data now, so here is a different take on an old favourite:

Carina Nebula in Optical and Near Infrared + HD Video (Or maybe just "Carina Nebula, The Full Package")...
Link to large hi-res infrared image: http://smu.gs/151qzZK
Link to large hi-res optical image: http://smu.gs/ZPUVq8

I also made a video from this data: "Hidden Treasures of the Carina Nebula"
Link to HD video: http://smu.gs/ZPVxMC
The video is a tour of the Great Nebula in Carina (NGC 3372) in both optical and infrared light. The music was composed specifically for this animation by my longtime friend Thomas Regin (www.northbysound.com).
Make sure you switch to 1080p HD and watch it in full screen, and turn the sound on. Enjoy

Details of the images
INFRARED:
Date: 8th, 10th and 11th February 2013
Exposure: NIR(Luminance) 80m, NIR(red) 80m, G(green) 51m, B(blue) 51m, total 3hrs 2mins @ -27C
Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand

OPTICAL:
Date: 8th, 10th and 11th February 2013
Exposure: LRGB: 24:51:51:51m, total 2hrs 57mins @ -27C
Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand

About the images
These images show the Great Nebula in Carina (NGC 3372) in optical and infrared light. This majestic nebula is one of the largest in the sky and lies about 7,500 light years distant in the Southern constellation of Carina, The Keel. Several star clusters containing some of the brightest and most massive stars known are found here, including the extremely luminous hypergiant star Eta Carinae - one of the prime candidates for the next supernova explosion in our galaxy.

Traditional images of the Carina Nebula taken in visible light primarily display the striking magenta colour from glowing Hydrogen gas, as well as large dark obscuring clouds of dust.
But infrared light penetrates these clouds better and allows for a deep peek into the heart of the nebula, revealing complex details and thousands of young stars that are otherwise completely invisible.
These stars shine primarily in the infrared and appear as golden red in this image. Only a minority of these are even visible in traditional images.

The infrared region seems largely unexplored by amateur astronomers. But using a filter that only allows infrared light (>700nm) to pass through allows for obtaining an image of these hidden features. Effectively the band observed is 700-1100nm since the sillicon CCD chip is not responsive to wavelengths longer than that, and this band is called NIR (Near Infrared). One issue arising from this technique is that the NIR band does not have a colour as such, since it lies outside the visible light spectrum. So in this image I have substituted the R channel with NIR which nicely brings out the contrast between the nebula itself and all the young obscured stars that shine primarily in infrared.
I used a NIR filter together with G and B filters to create this colour composite. The resulting images were assigned to the different channels as NIR->Luminance, NIR->Red, G->Green and B->Blue.

Images of the Carina Nebula taken in visible light primarily display the striking magenta colour from glowing Hydrogen gas, as well as large dark obscuring clouds of dust. Some notable features are visible in this high resolution view of the central part of the nebula:

Trumpler 14 is one of the youngest and most luminous star clusters in our galaxy. The fierce ultraviolet radiation from its blue giant stars is slowly eroding the surrounding gas and dust away and sculpting huge dark pillars in the process.
At the core of the nebula lies the famous Keyhole (upside-down in this view), a constellation of dark clouds and glowing gas that resembles a giant keyhole.
Also visible throughout the image are numerous Bok globules, which are small dark clouds where new stars are likely forming. These often appear as small dark specks floating in front of the glowing background gas.

The most prominent feature is the unstable hypergiant star Eta Carinae. This, the most luminous star known in our Galaxy, is 100 times more massive than our Sun and 5 million times as bright. The star has entered the final stage of its life and is highly unstable. It is a likely candidate for the next supernova explosion in our galaxy.
Eta Carinae produces giant outbursts from time to time, with the small hourglass shaped Homunculus Nebula being the result of the most recent event in 1841. At that time, and despite its large distance of 7,500 light-years, Eta Carinae briefly became the second brightest star in the night sky, surpassed only by Sirius.

Have a surf around the full resolution images linked above, the attached small versions below really doesn't do it justice.
Hope you enjoy, and comments and critique is most welcome.

Regards,
Rolf

[ChrisM]

Rolf, that is a fascinating comparison between the IR & visual, and a skillful video manipulation between the two. The music really adds to the effect.

I am curious that there was no difference in the filter list for each band, yet elsewhere you said that the IR filter was 700-1100 nm. Was the IR filter off the shelf or a special job?

Chris

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

What can I say Rolf.....

I am lost for words...ok I'm not lets see?...

Original, Inspirational, Incredible, Masterful, Beautiful, even Moving and certainly Very Clever.

Shame you are not an Aussie, I am sure that would give the usual Milky Way time lapse video entries to the David Malin Awards a run for their money.

Thank you ..and a deep breath...here goes, I've posted this emoticon twice this week now

Mike

[SpaceNoob (Chris)]

Awesome!

[RobF (Rob)]

Very impressive. Hope we see more IR amateur work.

[astroron (Ron)]

Beautiful piece of work Rolf, a pleasure to view
Cheers

[dvj (John)]

The NIR image shows excellent resolution around the cocoon of Eta Car so much better than the optical. Very interesting indeed.

[multiweb (Marc)]

That's great Rolf. I've always wondered about NIR imaging with amateur gear and you've showed it can be done in a big way. Inspiring.

PS: just checked the video. Loved it. Very well produced. From an aesthetic point of view it's flawless and very clever. From a practical point of view the fades in and out between the filters make it very hard to see the differences. Flicking multiple times in between wavelengths to emphasize difference would have been more effective.

[sjastro]

Very nice Rolf.

I've imaged the Carina Nebula in long wave UV.
For such a bright object it a difficult target in UV.

Regards

Steven

[avandonk]

Very nice work. I have one empty slot in my CFW. It was a toss up between a 5nm HA and a NIR >700nm from Astrodon.

Here for NIR filters

http://www.astrodon.com/products/filters/near-infrared/

Your suberb image and video has made my decision very easy. NIR it is.

Bert

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

Superb. Great use of your good weather.

A whole new perspective on a familiar object.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Inspirational, superb, spellbinding!!

Your work is amazing Rolf!

Thanks,

Justin.

[alpal]

Great work & I like the blue colour in the infra red image.

[John Hothersall]

Great IR comparison and grand video.

John.

[Stevec35 (Steve)]

Great stuff as usual Rolf! You certainly don't need to sell me on infrared imaging.

Cheers

Steve

[DavidU (Dave)]

Awesome alright !!!!

[Dennis]

Sigh….I didn’t want it to end. An enthralling and exquisite journey through the wavelengths of the visible and IR spectrum that had me at the edge of my seat.

You may have just introduced a new imaging genre Rolf.

Cheers

Dennis

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Originally Posted by ChrisM

Rolf, that is a fascinating comparison between the IR & visual, and a skillful video manipulation between the two. The music really adds to the effect.

I am curious that there was no difference in the filter list for each band, yet elsewhere you said that the IR filter was 700-1100 nm. Was the IR filter off the shelf or a special job?

Chris

Thanks very much Chris. Not sure what you meant by "difference in the filter list" ? The IR filter transmits 700nm and up, and combined with the Qe of the chip that gives a NIR response in the range of 700-1100nm, beyond that the chip doesn't pick up anything. The net peak IR response is at 800nm. It's a standard Astrodon NIR luminance filter.

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

What can I say Rolf.....

I am lost for words...ok I'm not lets see?...

Original, Inspirational, Incredible, Masterful, Beautiful, even Moving and certainly Very Clever.

Shame you are not an Aussie, I am sure that would give the usual Milky Way time lapse video entries to the David Malin Awards a run for their money.

Thank you ..and a deep breath...here goes, I've posted this emoticon twice this week now

Mike

Thanks a lot Mike, I'm very glad you enjoyed it. It was quite an effort to puyt the video together, but at least I learned my way around After Effects. The next one should be much easier.

Originally Posted by SpaceNoob

Awesome!

Thank you Chris

Originally Posted by RobF

Very impressive. Hope we see more IR amateur work.

Thanks Rob, I certainly won't be letting my NIR filter collect dust - in fact it sees right through it...

Originally Posted by astroron

Beautiful piece of work Rolf, a pleasure to view
Cheers

Thank you Ron!

Originally Posted by dvj

The NIR image shows excellent resolution around the cocoon of Eta Car so much better than the optical. Very interesting indeed.

Thanks John, I noticed that too but think thats mainly to do with the colours. There actually wasn't much difference around the Homunculus between the L and the NIR frame in terms of luminousity.

Originally Posted by multiweb

That's great Rolf. I've always wondered about NIR imaging with amateur gear and you've showed it can be done in a big way. Inspiring.

PS: just checked the video. Loved it. Very well produced. From an aesthetic point of view it's flawless and very clever. From a practical point of view the fades in and out between the filters make it very hard to see the differences. Flicking multiple times in between wavelengths to emphasize difference would have been more effective.

Thanks very much Marc I thought about doing some quick flicking between the frames in the video but decided it didn't fit in with the overall pace of the animation. You're right though, the differences would be more obvious that way. I'll see what I come up with for the next one

Originally Posted by sjastro

Very nice Rolf.

I've imaged the Carina Nebula in long wave UV.
For such a bright object it a difficult target in UV.

Regards

Steven

Thanks Steve, I tried creating a synthetic UV by subtracting L and NIR from a Clear frame, but the result was disappointing to say the least. A proper UV frame would have been perfect, maybe it's time to invest in a UV filter...

Originally Posted by avandonk

Very nice work. I have one empty slot in my CFW. It was a toss up between a 5nm HA and a NIR >700nm from Astrodon.

Here for NIR filters

http://www.astrodon.com/products/filters/near-infrared/

Your suberb image and video has made my decision very easy. NIR it is.

Bert

Thank you Bert, yes I find NIR band very interesting. I don't think you'll regret that choice.

Originally Posted by seeker372011

Superb. Great use of your good weather.

A whole new perspective on a familiar object.

Thank you Narayan, it certainly takes on a new look in NIR doesn't it

Originally Posted by tilbrook@rbe.ne

Inspirational, superb, spellbinding!!

Your work is amazing Rolf!

Thanks,

Justin.

Thank you very much Justin I'm glad you enjoyed it - I hope to make some more of these.

Originally Posted by alpal

Great work & I like the blue colour in the infra red image.

Thanks, yeah the blues are due to the NIR-G-B processing. Before I came up with that I wasn't quite sure how to best present a NIR image but this combination really enhances the contrasts between NIR and Optical features.

Originally Posted by John Hothersall

Great IR comparison and grand video.

John.

Thanks John, I'm glad you liked it

Originally Posted by Stevec35

Great stuff as usual Rolf! You certainly don't need to sell me on infrared imaging.

Cheers

Steve

Thank you Steve. Your work inspired me to go for the NIR filter. I always thought it was interesting to see through the obscuring dust like this.

Originally Posted by DavidU

Awesome alright !!!!

Thanks David

Originally Posted by Dennis

Sigh….I didn’t want it to end. An enthralling and exquisite journey through the wavelengths of the visible and IR spectrum that had me at the edge of my seat.

You may have just introduced a new imaging genre Rolf.

Cheers

Dennis

Thanks a lot Dennis I expect to be making more of these, hopefully it'll be easier next time. This one was quite time consuming to produce because I had to learn my way around AE first.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by SkyViking

I thought about doing some quick flicking between the frames in the video but decided it didn't fit in with the overall pace of the animation.

I understand. You're right. That would look odd with the pace and motions. Maybe trigger some epilectic seizures

I see you've used only one NIR to make a Lum range then swapped channels for colours opposed to use a dedicated RGB NIR set. I have a 2" Astronomik IR Pro 742. Would that work for the IR LUM? It's supposed to cover >700nm.

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

I understand. You're right. That would look odd with the pace and motions. Maybe trigger some epilectic seizures

I see you've used only one NIR to make a Lum range then swapped channels for colours opposed to use a dedicated RGB NIR set. I have a 2" Astronomik IR Pro 742. Would that work for the IR LUM? It's supposed to cover >700nm.

Hi Marc, yes that filter is effectively the same as mine. The Astrodon NIR RGB set unfortunetely doesn't come in 31mm version so that's why I'm just using a single NIR luminance filter.