The Carina Nebula is a large bright nebula that has within its boundaries several related open clusters of stars.
Eta Carinae and HD 93129A, two of the most massive and luminous stars in our Milky Way galaxy, are among them. The nebula lies at an estimated distance between 6,500 and 10,000 light years from Earth. It appears in the constellation of Carina, and is located in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm. The nebula contains multiple O-type stars.

The nebula is one of the largest diffuse nebulae in our skies. Although it is some four times as large and even brighter than the famous Orion Nebula, the Carina Nebula is much less well known, due to its location in the southern sky. It was discovered by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1751–52 from the Cape of Good Hope.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Celestron C8 SCT
Imaging cameras: Nikon D5000
Mounts: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro Goto
Focal reducers: Celestron f/6.3 Focal Reducer/Corrector
Software: DeepSkyStacker, Startools 1.3, PHD guiding, photoshop, Leandro Fornaziero Pardal Astronomy controls
Dates: Feb. 17, 2014
Frames: 60×60″
Integration: 1.0 hours

Autor: Leandro Fornaziero

AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI

24 February 2014

We select the best works of amateur astrophotographers with details of equipment, shooting processing etc.