Carina region

[Aurorae (Sara)]

Hi,

I am a nightscaper, and I recently took a photo (as attached - I have reduced the size so the quality has dropped, but it wont let me upload the original) of the carina nebula area. There is a large concentration of stars in this area. I only just purchased a 135mm and I noticed bloating of stars in parts of the photo. So, I tried again a different night assuming that perhaps I was slightly trailing, only to find the exact same problem.

So I used my 135mm on a different target, only to notice that the stars are pin-sharp.

I guess I wanted to ask whether it is common to experience bloating and other challenges with the stars when taking a photograph of the carina nebula area? That way I wont feel so frustrated

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Could be a number of reasons. Were the bloated stars only the brightest ones, this could just mean over exposure. Patchy high cloud that was undetectable with the naked eye could have been causing bloated stars. Bad seeing conditions? etc. I notice you have a tremendous amount of Ha showing, were you using an Ha filter with a modded camera? Was your Ha shot taken separate from your RGB? Quite often when you merge your Ha data with RGB data, the brighter stars can appear bloated. Just a few thoughts. Nice photo by the way, I have done some Nightscapes from that very location myself.