ScottieMacNeill
Messier 8 and Messier 20 Nebula Field
Check it out! This is the final version of the Messier 8 - The Lagoon Nebula / Messier 20 - The Trifid Nebula field imaging project. After several nights of capture, totaling 15 hours of exposure, I decided to start processing the datasets. There is so much going on in this image! All the reds in this image are recombined ionized hydrogen, a process triggered by intense ultraviolet radiation from nearby stars. Blues are reflected starlight from high-mass stars inside the nebula. Blacks are cold hydrogen regions, where starlight is obscured by the hydrogen cloud. Whites are the Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN) which are hydrogen, oxygen, and other metals that are being illuminated by the combined starlight of the overall galaxy. I captured this at Frosty Drew Observatory in Charlestown, Rhode Island. Mara Decesare assisted with data collection, alignment, and set up as part of the Frosty Drew summer internship project preparation.
Camera: Canon Ra + L-Pro
Telescope: Astronomics AT72ED + Field Flattener
Mount: Celestron CGEM DX + Single board computer
Exposure: 120 seconds + darks, flats, offset calibration frames
ISO 3200
Total Integration Time: 15 hours.
Messier 8 and Messier 20 Nebula Field
Check it out! This is the final version of the Messier 8 - The Lagoon Nebula / Messier 20 - The Trifid Nebula field imaging project. After several nights of capture, totaling 15 hours of exposure, I decided to start processing the datasets. There is so much going on in this image! All the reds in this image are recombined ionized hydrogen, a process triggered by intense ultraviolet radiation from nearby stars. Blues are reflected starlight from high-mass stars inside the nebula. Blacks are cold hydrogen regions, where starlight is obscured by the hydrogen cloud. Whites are the Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN) which are hydrogen, oxygen, and other metals that are being illuminated by the combined starlight of the overall galaxy. I captured this at Frosty Drew Observatory in Charlestown, Rhode Island. Mara Decesare assisted with data collection, alignment, and set up as part of the Frosty Drew summer internship project preparation.
Camera: Canon Ra + L-Pro
Telescope: Astronomics AT72ED + Field Flattener
Mount: Celestron CGEM DX + Single board computer
Exposure: 120 seconds + darks, flats, offset calibration frames
ISO 3200
Total Integration Time: 15 hours.