Eta Carina, Keyhole Nebula, Trumpler 14
Shining like the eye of Sauron, the massive star Eta Carina is now in the final stages of its turbulent life toward becoming a supernova. Stellar winds from the celestial giant howl over massive distances and can be seen compressing shock waves of hydrogen gas that will trigger a new wave of star formation. The nebula abounds in glowing filaments fluorescing gas: within this space bright rimmed Bok globules (The finger, The Caterpillar, The Slug ) are energised by the harsh UV light from hot blue stars in a process not dissimilar to Las Vegas neon. This contrasts to dark silhouetted clouds of cold dust and molecules. The field is some 50 light years wide, and estimated to be 7500 light years from our Sun in the constellation of Carina.
Equipment set-up
Alluna Optics RC16 with FFC
SBIG
Baader Planetarium
Takahashi
Takahashi Collimating telescope
Software Bisque
Approx 4 hours of HaLRGB. Processing with MaxIm CCD, Pixinsight, Photoshop CS6
Copyright Peter J Ward 2016
Can you see all 26 grey scales above?