Quick Deep Sky Imaging 2012-04-11

When I arrived home from work, I saw a clear sky waiting for me. I wasted no time and carried my imaging stuffs to my observing spot. In the recent months, I haven't imaged any deep sky target and concentrate my imaging on the 2 planetary targets namely Mars and Saturn. Now, I wanted another deep sky shot. I replaced the 127mm maksutov installed on the mount with a short tube 80mm refractor.

I did a rough polar alignment, then started searching for the target I have in mind: the Carina Nebula. I know that the nebula is somewhere between the southern cross and the tail of Canis major, so I started the search there. I was surprised that I couldn't find this relatively easy target with the short tube. I went back to my room, picked up my 10x50 binocular and scanned the sky with it. Still I couldn't find it. Then I tried to scan the sky without any optical aid. There I noticed that I was fooled by the "False cross". The real southern cross is a short hop to the left. With the real cross in sight, I found the nebula easily with my bins.

After finding my target, I aimed my scope at the target and started imaging. After around 20 shots, the target was covered by a raised section of the roof. So I moved my scope, did a rough polar alignment again and captured another target just beside the nebula, the rich open cluster NGC3532.

 Eta Carinae Nebula with the Keyhole nebula in the middle

NGC3532

After capturing these 2 targets, I went back to my room and performed the usual process of aligning, stacking and post processing the frames.