The Eta Carinae Nebula

This image was captured during a stargazing session at the El Pangue observatory near Vicuna in the Elqui valley in Chile.

El Pangue is not a professional observatory in that its instruments are in the ‘large amateur’ class: a 16-inch Meade, a 25-inch Dobsonian etc. It is ideal for groups of stargazers and provides a great opportunity for astrophotography.

As I have done little observing in the southern hemisphere Eta Carinae was high on my list of targets. It is one of the most interesting stars in the sky having erupted in a major outburst that started in 1837 and lasted nearly 20 years. At its peak in 1843 the star became the second-brightest in the sky and high resolution Hubble images have revealed that it comprises at least two component stars shrouded in a double-lobed expanding cloud known as the Homunculus nebula. To do it justice, this target would require hours of imaging with a large amateur scope, but for this one night opportunity I had to make do with my telephoto lens and about half an hour.

I used a Nikon Z6 camera with an 80-400mm Nikkor zoom at 270mm with a Star Adventurer tracking mount for a series of 30-second exposures at f/5.6 and ISO 1600. Total exposure was 15 minutes with the images subsequently stacked and processed in PixInsight and Photoshop.