Eta Carina
The most prominent star in the bright section of the nebula is eta carina, an unstable giant and currently the most massive nearby star that can be studied in great detail. It produces produce more than a million times as much light as the Sun and could go supernova any time. Since its light takes 8000 light years to reach us iit may have already done so. This version of the image has been reprocessed using Pixinsite to show some stars,
Details:-
Date and Location - 2009-02-25 at La Ensenada resort in Costa Rica.
Equipment - Modified Canon 350D with a 300mm lens on astrotrack mount.
Exposure - 37 - 125s light frames, and 20 darks at ISO 800 and f/4 with 8 flats for calibration.
Processing - ImagesPlus, Pixinsite and Photoshop.