July 20, 2018

Eta Carinae and Neighbors (Spring 2018)


This is such a fascinating field.  In the center shines the star Eta Carinae, a giant luminous blue variable star and its companion that together partly power up all the emission nebulae you see here.  In the upper left is cluster Trumpler 15, upper center Trumpler 14, and around and down from Eta Carinae the large cluster Trumpler 16.  Sprinkled throughout the field are Bok globules and globulettes.  In a few places, such as just to the left of Trumpler 14, you can find Herbig-Haro objects. I've studied the field quite a bit, and I'm still learning.  I recommend the entries on this area in Kanipe and Webb's Annals of the Deep Sky.

This image was constructed with excellent data gathered by my friend Martin Pugh at New South Wales, Australia.  See his website here.  The telescope is a 12.5" RCOS, the camera a SBIG 11000M, and data for this image is in narrowband as follows: 13x1800" + 3x1200" (Ha); 14x1800" (OIII); 14x1800" (SII).


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