View allAll Photos Tagged Lagoonnebula
M8 / Lagoon Nebula
Planewave 17” CDK
Camera: FLI ML16803
Filter: Chroma L,R,G,B
Focuser: IRF90
Focal Length: 2939mm
Focal Ratio: f/6.8
Mount: 10 Micron GM3000
Location: Deep Sky West, Chile
7,5h of data, combination in PixInsight done:
L: 26 x 300sec
R: 28 x 300sec
G:16 x 300sec
B: 21 x 300sec
From super-simple prokaryote cells to faster-than-light travel across the universe, there lies a series of steps. It begins with the creation of the Solar System. The precise kind of stable star, the placing of gas giants in exactly the right spot, the abundance of warmth and organics and water. These are the settings for life, and they've played out in the same way for billions of other Earth-like planets in our galaxy alone.
So why are there no signs of intelligent life strewed across and buzzing between these fertile lands?
According to the Great Filter theory - they've all come, had a go and failed. The idea bids a filter is some inevitable challenge baked into the cosmos, so great that it prevents life from ever advancing to the point that it can interact across or explore the universe. If the theory is right, and this mysterious phenomenon does indeed lie somewhere ahead of us, as it did for our little green fallen brethren, humanities long-run prospects look kinda bleak. But what if we've already faced and conquered this so-called filter? The first few billion years of life on Earth wasn't exactly easy going.
Ok sure, space does seem a little light on traffic at the moment, but who's to say out there in all that serenity, other intergalactic civilisations aren't at a similar point on the timeline as us? Perhaps they're even before us, still chasing their sabre-toothed tigers with spears and no GPS, and us humble earthlings are indeed the most advanced species of the lot. Or they are ahead of us, and maybe, just maybe, there is no great impassable filter, just a really big universe that's simply too enormous for us, or E.T., to ever stop by for a visit.
Lagoon Nebula (also known as M8 or NGC 6523), is around 4,077 light-years from Earth. What do you think? Beyond the filter or just too far away from this point forth, and for the rest of time?
Re-imaged with an additional five hours of data added to the previous attempt.
•Light frames: 144 x 180sec (captured over three nights)
•Flats frames: x65
•Dark frames: 60 x 180sec
•Bias frames: x75
The Lagoon Nebula, NGC 6523
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Image exposure: 150 minutes
Image size: 1.54º x 1.01º
Image date: 2022-08-22
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M8, NGC 6523
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Magnitude: +6.0
Diameter: 113.6 light years.
Apparent size: 90 x 40 arc min
Distance: 4,300 light years.
Constellation: Sagittarius
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Image date: 2021-05-19
Exposure: 62.5 min (16 x 234s)
Field of View: 87.1' x 58.1'
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DESCRIPTION: Very nice target for smaller telescopes and camera lenses. I am surprised of data quality because I was shooting during astronomical twilight and nebulae were only approx 15° above south light polluted horizon… All comments are welcome, you can be critique and please constructive.
OBJECT: M 8 The Lagoon Nebula, M 20 The Trifid Nebula, Constelation Sagittarius, M8 apparent magnitude 6, apparent dimension 90’ x 40’, M20 apparent magnitude 6,3, apparent dimension 28’ x 28’, FOV 2,7° x 1,8°.
GEAR: Nikon Z7 Kolari Full Spectrum + Nikkor 500/5,6 PF, Astronomic UV/IR/L2 Clip in filter, Rollei Astroklar light pollution filter, Dew heater strip, sensor pixel scale 1,79 arcsec/px, tracking mount iOptron CEM60EC - 3 star alignment, no auto guiding.
ACQUISITION: July 3-4, 2021, Struz, CZ, Subexposure 180s, f 5,6, ISO 640, Interval 15 s, RAW-M, Light 19x, Dark 20x, Bias 20x, Flat 20x, DarkFlats 10x. Total exposure time 57 min. Astronomical twilight, no wind, 9°C, No Moon, Light polluted backyard - Bortle 5.
STACKING AND POST PROCESSING: AstroPixelProcessor (stacking, background neutralization, light pollution removal, calibrate background) , Adobe Photoshop CC 2020 ( black and white point settings, stretching, dim stars, enhance DSO, contrast setting, no noise reduction). Cropped 2,3x x, image size 3840 x 2560 px.
Total exposure time 93 minutes.
Unmodified Nikon D810 W/Nikon 500mm F4 @ f5.6.
Cropped to approximately 2/3 of original frame.
Designation: Messier 8, M8, NGC 6523 (nebula), NGC 6530 (cluster).
Constellation: Sagittarius.
Visual magnitude: +6.0
Apparent size: 90′ x 40′
Diameter: 114 light years.
Distance: 4,300 light years.
Exposure: 120 min.
Camera: ZWO ASI071
Telescope: SkyWatcher ED120
Date: 2019-08-23
My first post of the year is one of the most challanging panoramas I shot so far. It is my first tracked panorama shot at 70mm focal length and was captured in one of my favorite places, at the Tschuggen Observatory in Arosa, Switzerland. Despite the rather narrow final field of view, it consists of 18 panels for the foreground and 4 panels for the sky.
Capturing the set of exposures in freezing-25°C was quite an ordeal for me and my equipment. Eyeballing the overlap and moving the camera on my frozen up ballhead and with my numb fingers proved almost impossible and these equipment problems made my buy a good panorama head a few weeks later…
Processing the panorama proved to be tough on my computer as well. The photoshop file of the 200 megapixel panorama has whopping 31GB, but the resolution and detail I recorded in the sky is amazing.
The Orion, Runnning Man, Flame and Horsehead nebulas are beautifully resolved and the hydrogen alpha nebulosities in the region are standing out nicely: Barnards Loop, the Meissa Region, the Rosette Nebula, the Seagull Nebula and the Christmas Tree Cluster are really popping.
Prints available: ralf-rohner.pixels.com
EXIF
Canon EOS 6D astro modified
Canon EF 24-70mm f/28 L
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Low Level Lighting
Sky
4 panels, each a stack of 9 x 60s @ISO1600, tracked
Foreground
18 panels of 60s @ISO1600
320 light frames + 20 dark frames + 20 bias frames, taken on 14.07.2018.
EXIF: IR modified Canon 550D, Tamron 600 mm f/6.3, iso 6.4k, 25'' on an iOptron Skytracker. Stacked on DSS. Processed in Photoshop.
Photography and Licensing: doudoulakis.blogspot.com/
My books concerning natural phenomena / Τα βιβλία μου σχετικά με τα φυσικά φαινόμενα: www.facebook.com/TaFisikaFainomena/
M8 / Lagoon Nebula
Planewave 17” CDK
Camera: FLI ML16803
Filter: Chroma L,R,G,B
Focuser: IRF90
Focal Length: 2939mm
Focal Ratio: f/6.8
Mount: 10 Micron GM3000
Location: Deep Sky West, Chile
7,5h of data, combination in PixInsight done:
L: 26 x 300sec
R: 28 x 300sec
G:16 x 300sec
B: 21 x 300sec
The time window to capture the rising Milky Way core in February was very short. I therefore decided to continue shooting during early nautical twilight.
While the Milky Way is still visible during these first minutes of twilight, it has less contrast and the sky quickly turns blue.
On the other hand this allowed me to capture the rising Venus and the foreground showed more detail. Of course I happily accepted the bonus time.
Prints available: ralf-rohner.pixels.com
EXIF
Canon EOS 6D astro modified
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L ll @ 70mm
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Sky:
Stack of
Stack of 3 x 30s @ISO1600, tracked
Foreground:
Stack of 9 x 30s @ ISO1600
M8 Lagoon Nebula shot with Canon 5Dsr on a Sky watcher Quattro 250 F4 . 36 x 55 second shots stacked. 33 minutes of data.
Another go at processing all the images I got last week, here is Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae . So many ways to process these astro shots that all give such varied results .
This is a wide-field image of Lagoon (M8) & Trifid nebulae (M20) in Sagittarius constellation. These nebulae are both star nurseries. The Lagoon nebula is emission nebula mainly composed of Hydrogen gas. The black focal spots in the nebula are protostar collapsing dust clouds called Bok globules. The nebula is brightened by two giant stars in the centre and the open star cluster NGC 6530 above it. In the other side, the Trifid nebula which is composed of Red emission nebula & Blue reflection nebula. It’s called trifid because the dark dust lanes are separating the nebula into three lobes. Its about 5,200 light years distance. Gear setup: WO Redcat51 f/4.9, Optolong L-Pro, ZWO ASI 2600 MC, iOptron Sky Guider Pro unguided, ASIair. Acquisition 20 x 180 sec subs, 20 Darks, 50 Bias. Total one hour integration. Processed by DSS, PS and Topaz Denoise AI. Little cropped from sky Bortle 4.
Grand-Staircase Escalante has some of the darkest skies I have ever seen. The lack of light pollution in combination with very dry and clear air makes the atmosphere perfectly transparent and lets the starlight pass without washing out contrast. Under these extraordinary conditions a camera can capture the colors of darkness.
EXIF
Canon EOS 6D astro modified
Sigma 35mm f/1.4
iOptron SkyTraker
Low Level Lighting
Foreground:
3 x 50s @ ISO1600, fixed tripod
Sky:
5 x 50s @ ISO1600, tracked
Prints available:
ralf-rohner.pixels.com
Seen in the constellation Sagittarius, the Lagoon Nebula, and Trifid Nebula shine even against the brilliance of the Milky Way bands they are near. The Lagoon Nebula was discovered before 1654, and later the Trifid Nebula was first observed in 1764. They both are ~5,000 light-years away from us here on Earth. They are both easily observed with the naked eye from dark areas, a pair of binoculars or telescope really brings out the details though!
Shot from my back yard near Taos, New Mexico.
Equipment:
Celestron CGEM Mount
Nikon 500mm f/4 P AI-s - shot at f/5.6
Sony a7RIII (unmodified)
Altair 60mm Guide scope
GPCAM2 Mono Camera
Acquisition:
Taos, NM: my backyard - Bortle 3
26 x 136" for 58 min and 56 sec of exposure time.
5 dark frames
15 flats frames
15 bais frames
Software:
SharpCap
DeepSkyStacker
Photoshop
PHD2
My mount was polar aligned with SharpCap (what an amazing system for aligning). I then mounted my a7RIII and adapted Nikon 500mm f/4 P AI-s lens to the top rail of my scope. I used SharpCap to achieve "excellent" polar alignment. I shot ISO 1600, f/5.6 and 135" exposures. I stacked lights/darks/flats/bias frames in deepskystacker. I then processed the TIFF file in photoshop stretching the file, minimal cropping and I used Astronomy Tools Action Set to help bring out details and colors.
This area of the Milky Way Galaxy has a wonderful string of nebulas and star clouds. I decided a few months ago that I wanted to make a DeepScape image of this grouping over Mount Shasta and determined I had three time windows where I thought I could pull it off. Last weekend was my second window and it luckily coincided with a fresh batch of snow on Shasta and Shastina! As soon as I saw the weather forecast, I packed up the Jeep and headed north.
From upper left to lower right, there is Eagle Nebula, Omega Nebula, The Small Sagittarius Star Cloud (center), Trifid Nebula, and Lagoon Nebula.
Sony A7S3, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8, 130mm, f/3.2, 55s, ISO1600. Astro stack of 64 Lights, 32 Darks, 32 Flats, and 32 Biases. Tracked on Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer. Foreground taken from same place with same settings, but during dusk. Relative size and position was maintained.
Quick timelapse video of the images I took along the way, including an annotated version of this image: vimeo.com/703919234
The galactic center is the center of gravity of the Milky Way system. Seen from the earth, it lies in the constellation Sagittarius, where the visible band of the Milky Way appears to be the most dense. The distance of the earth from the center of the Milky Way is about 25,000 light-years. At the center of the Milky Way is a massive black hole.
The weather in Switzerland has been horrible lately and I had no chance to shoot the Milky Way since late February. Luckily I was able to take my chance during the only clear night in the last new moon period.
While capturing my images, I noticed that Jupiter has travelled quite a far since my last imaging session. In February, it was residing at the hoofs of the dark horse, wile it now shines right in its heart. I am glad that I was able to capture this memorable view, which will only happen again in about 12 years.
Prints available:
EXIF
Canon EOS 6D astro modified
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L ll @ 70mm
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
50s @ ISO1600 f/2.8
Stack of 6 tracked images for the sky
Stack of 5 images for the foreground
Lagoon Nebula M8 area with Trifid Nebula M20 captured under a Bortle 1 sky at Teide National Park, Tenerife.
Scope: Lacerta APO 72/432
Mount: IOptron SkyGuiderPro
RGB frames:
Fuji X-T3, 65x 1 min. @ ISO 3.200
Ha + OIII:
Nikon D5500 astro modified
68x 2 min. @ ISO 3.200
Optolong L-Enhance dual narrowband filter
Colors blended in SIRIL to simulate the "Hubble palette".
The Lagoon (M8) and Trifid (M20) nebulae in Sagittarius are seen in this image made of 29 twenty second exposures taken with a full spectrum modified Canon 70D and a Canon 50 mm f/1.4 lens. (f/4.0, ISO 3200)
The Lagoon Nebula is 8 in Charles Messier's "not a comet" list, 25 in the Sharpless catalog and 6523 in the New General Calalog.(NGC) It is a cloud of ionized hydrogen estimated to be 4000-6000 light years from earth. It can be seen with the naked eye as a gray/green patch in the constellation of Sagittarius..Almost in the center of the photo can be seen NGC 6530, an open cluster of young stars formed from material within the nebula. The entire nebula is roughly 110 x 50 light-years wide.
This is a LRGB filtered image taken with a QHY23M mono CCD camera and an 11" Celestron EdgeHD w/Hyperstar on May 31 & June 9, 2016
L-20x120s
R-10x120s
G-10x120s
B-10x120s
As the core season is drawing to an end, it is time to start working on my processing backlog. This also lets me revisit some of the stunning places I had the privilege to photograph this year.
I have been doing night photography for several years now, but I have not spent many nights in more remote places than this. Dozens of miles away from civilization, the sky is incredibly dark and, while being the only human soul far and wide might give some people the creeps, it makes me focused and helps me connect to the universe in a way I cannot do when I have company.
Who needs dreams, when he can get such views in reality?
EXIF
Canon EOS 6D astro modified
Sigma 35mm f1.4 ART @f2.8
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Low Level Lighting
Sky
6 x 30s @ ISO6400, tracked, stacked
Foreground
20 x 30s @ ISO6400, stacked
Prints available:
The Lagoon Nebula (catalogued as Messier 8 or M8, NGC 6523, Sharpless 25, RCW 146, and Gum 72) is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius. It is classified as an emission nebula and as an H II region. The Lagoon Nebula is estimated to be between 4,000–6,000 light-years away from the Earth. In the sky of Earth, it spans 90' by 40', which translates to an actual dimension of 110 by 50 light years. Like many nebulae, it appears pink in time-exposure color photos but is gray to the eye peering through binoculars or a telescope, human vision having poor color sensitivity at low light levels. The nebula contains a number of Bok globules (dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material), the most prominent of which have been catalogued by E. E. Barnard as B88, B89 and B296. It also includes a funnel-like or tornado-like structure caused by a hot O-type star that emanates ultraviolet light, heating and ionizing gases on the surface of the nebula. The Lagoon Nebula also contains at its centre a structure known as the Hourglass Nebula (so named by John Herschel), which should not be confused with the better known Engraved Hourglass Nebula in the constellation of Musca. In 2006, four Herbig–Haro objects were detected within the Hourglass, providing direct evidence of active star formation by accretion within it. (RASA 8, AM5, ASI2600MC-Pro, IDAS NBZex, ASIAIR, PixInsight, Photoshop).
Wile my recently published time lapse movie "Stars on the Move" (see: youtu.be/LAT9HzQnPMo) contains footage from this remote place in northern Arizona, I have not posted any stills from there. Definately something I have to change...
I found this canyon during my search for interesting foreground features in places that are not as crowded as some of the "bucket list" landmarks in the Southwest. The red sandstone rocks with their crisscrossing white lines reminded me of crazy petroglyphs or an alien graffitti. On closer scrutiny however, they clearly are of natural origin.
Of course, I had to stay for the night and not surprisingly, I had this incredible location all to myself. Ok, there were a few coyotes in the area, but I did not see a human soul within 20 miles. Dark skies and beautiful rocks, are what a landscape astrophotographers dreams are made of...
This is a great example for how rewarding it can be to leave the beaten path and find "new" places instead of crowding a few overshot features with dozens of other photographers.
Prints available:
EXIF
Canon EOS 6D astro modified
Samyang 24mm f/1.4
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Low Level Lighting
Sky:
6 x 30s @ ISO3200, tracked
Foreground :
6 x 30s @ ISO3200
The galactic centre area of the Milky Way in Sagittarius behind the grand old barn near home in southern Alberta, on June 30, 2019. Illumination of the barn is from twilight to the north, but also from light pollution skyglow from the west off frame at right. The sky is blue from the perpetual summer twilight at this time of year.
Jupiter is at centre. The nebulas and starclouds of the Milky Way show up well here. The southerly Messier clusters, M6 and M7, in Scorpius just skim the horizon at left. The very red star in the “eye” of the Dark Horse is TW Ophiuchi. This is from my latitude of 51° N.
This is a blend of tracked (for the sky) and untracked (for the ground) exposures, with a stack of 3 for the ground and 5 for the sky, stacked to smooth noise. All at ISO 1250 and one minute each, but with the sky exposures at f/2 and ground exposures at f/2.5, with the Sigma 24mm Art lens and stock (not modified) Nikon D750. The sky exposures were through a NiSI Natural Night light pollution filter. The sky exposures are at f/2 to make up for the light loss from shooting thru the filter while keeping exposures short for ease of blending later. The tracker was the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer.
I added a mild Orton effect glow layer to the image using Luminar Flex.
M8 Lagoon Nebula shot with Canon 5Dsr on a Sky watcher Quattro 250 F4 . 71 x 30 second shots stacked in Sequator
What is the origin of light?
The physicist will probably tell you that it is a photon emitted by matter in an excited state.
The astronomer will certainly agree with that, but might add that such excited matter can be found in stars, which are fueled by nuclear reactions or in gas clouds that are energized by electromagnetic radiation.
The chemist will also agree with the physicist, but will add that matter can also be excited by a chemical reaction, thus leading to chemoluminescence.
The biologist might bring another aspect into the discussion: Such chemical reactions can take place inside living organisms, leading to bioluminescence and that the most frequently encountered bioluminescent organisms may be the dinoflagellates present in the surface layers of the sea, which are responsible for the sparkling phosphorescence sometimes seen at night in disturbed water.
Finally, the astrophotographer might agree with all of the above and, if he is lucky enough, he will be able to show you an image where a sky, filled with billions of stars and a few colorful emission nebulas, is riding above a remote ocean shore where photo luminescent bacteria seem to rival the starlight with their own glow.
EXIF
Canon EOS 6D, astro modified
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L ll @70mm
iOptron Skytracker
Foreground:
4 x 30s @ ISO1600, stacked
Sky:
4 x 30s @ ISO1600, tracked, stacked
Prints available
My first attempt at processing an image of a deep sky object - M8 in the constellation of Sagittarius. It's based on a stacked .fit file that was built from 92 x 10s exposures using a ZWO S50 telescope in AZ mode. Image stretching was undertaken with GraXpert, with followup in Photoshop Elements (Mac) and Topaz Denoise AI. Lots of scope for improvement, hopefully using individual frames in Siril.
M8 (No.8 in Messier's Catalogue of nebulae) is 5200 light years from Earth and is just visible to the naked eye in dark skies (NASA).
St Anthony Head Lighthouse featuring the Milky Way, Lagoon Nebula, Trifid Nebula and a meteor.
This is a rework of a pic from a few months back, This edit is uncropped which i think is a slight improvement on the last.
Stack/Track/Blend
I tried a shot like this last year on Longships lighthouse and it didn’t quite go to plan but eventually found this little gem perfectly placed to give it another go, I think this one is a slight improvement on my last so feeling pleased. This was shot from St Mawes Castle car park so nice and easy just get out the van & shoot. :)
Equipment used;
Nikon D850
Samyang 135mm lens
Star Adventurer tracker
Capture Details;
Sky
10 x 40 seconds
ISO 2000
@f2
Foreground
25 x 6 seconds
ISO 10000
@f2
Lighthouse light
1 x 60 seconds
ISO 100
@f2
Edited in Photoshop
The core region of Milky Way rising behind the Toadstool.
While my lat post flic.kr/p/Eo2P1o showed a very wide panorama of the Toadstool, this as kind of the contrary.
When I am at a real dark sky location, I am always amazed how well the stars are visible along the horizon. While shooting nightscapes at the Toadstool, I stood in wonder when I noticed how dark the sky was in the direction of the rising Milky Way. I grabbed my 70-200mm lens and shot this image.
To make it clear: This is real and not a composite.The golden color on the horizon is the light of millions of stars rising behind the Toadstool, while the black areas are dark clouds of cosmic dust. Also visible to the right of the Hoodoo are the Lagoon Nabula (M8), Trifid Nemula (M20) and the bright starlike planet Saturn.
EXIF:
Canon EOS 6D astro modified
Canon 70-200 f/2.8 L IS USM @ 70mm
iOptron Skytracker
Foreground:
Single exposure 180s @ ISO1600
Low Level Lighting with 2 LED panels and 1 omindirectional light
Sky:
stack of 3 x 180s @ ISO1600
Thanks for all your faves and comments.
Prints available:
Since summer is around the corner, I reprocessed my M8 and M20 picture from last year.
The Lagoon (M8) and Trifid Nebula (M20) are located in the Sagittarius region of the Milky Way. The Lagoon Nebula is also one of only two nebula that are visible with the Naked Eye. Both are emission nebula and are literal star factories, with their superheated gasses creating a beautiful glow. The Lagoon Nebula (left) is located approximately 5,200 light years away and the Trifid Nebula is about 9,000 light years away. Also pictured just above the Trifid nebula is M21 (NGC6531) or “Webs Cross”.
Shot on a ZWO ASI 2600MC Pro
51X300s exposures for
4.1 total hours of integration time
TS Optics 90mm APO Telescope.
Skywatcher EQ6R mount.
Bortle 5 west of the DFW area.
La nébuleuse de la lagune est une nébuleuse diffuse située dans la constellation du Sagittaire à 5000 années-lumières de la Terre. Cette constellation correspond au « bulbe » ou « centre » de notre galaxie, La Voie lactée. Cette nébuleuse est un immense nuage d'hydrogène et de poussières éclairé par des étoiles.
La nébuleuse de la Lagune est un lieu de formation d'étoiles, qui naissent là où la concentration de gaz dépasse une valeur critique. Entraînée dans un tourbillon de plus en plus rapide et serré, la matière (gaz et poussières) s'accumule, se concentre, se densifie et, par une sorte d'effet boule de neige, attire encore plus de matière : apparait alors de nouvelles étoiles.
Grâce à sa taille apparente (trois fois plus importante que celle de la pleine Lune) et à sa luminosité, elle s'observe facilement avec un instrument modeste : paire de jumelles, lunette astronomique ou télescope. Toutefois, ses couleurs n'apparaîtront bien à l'astronome amateur qu'avec un instrument de grand diamètre ou, mieux encore, avec un appareil photographique permettant de laisser le diaphragme ouvert suffisamment longtemps pour faire apparaitre la lumière et les couleurs.
2h d’acquisiton - Canon 6d Astrodon - telescope skywatcher 200/1000 sur neq6 pro Goto.
Milkyway mosaic (16-frames) taken under perfect skies in the australian outback (mag 7, sometimes even mag7.5).
Equipment used: Canon EOS 40D (modified), Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 at f/4.0, AstroTrac (generation 1)
Exposure time was 211 times 5min.
Nikon d5100
iOptron SkyTracker
6 x 55 seconds
50mm
f3.5
ISO 1600
Stitched in MS ICE
My second attempt with the iOptron SkyTracker. This time I made sure the tripod was perfectly level, something I didn't even think about the first time as I was concentrating so much on getting the polar alignment right.
This photo is a mosaic of 6 individual shots at roughly 55 seconds each (I counted in my head). You can clearly see Mars as the orange orb just left of centre, close to the Lagoon Nebula (M8). It was taken at Serpentine Dam, approximately 45mins from my home in Perth, Western Australia. Light pollution from the city is leaking into the bottom right corner of the frame.
4 panel mosaic
Taken throughout August 2017
Telescope: 11" Celestron EdgeHD+ Hyperstar(F/2)
Camera: QHY163M
Mount: Orion HDX-110
LRGB- 20x30 seconds each per panel
Ha-20x120 sec each per panel
5h 20m total
The heart of M8 Lagoon Nebula ,maybe I am tired as I have been up all night taking photos of this and quickly processing , but all I see here is a black Lizard running on his back legs in the centre and winged Faerie at the top . Canon 5Dsr on a Sky watcher Quattro 250 F4 . 71 x 30 second shots stacked in Sequator and this is a crop of the centre region.
The Lagoon Nebula (catalogued as Messier 8 or M8, NGC 6523, Sharpless 25, RCW 146, and Gum 72) is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius. It is classified as an emission nebula and as an H II region. The Lagoon Nebula is estimated to be between 4,000–6,000 light-years away from the Earth. In the sky of Earth, it spans 90' by 40', which translates to an actual dimension of 110 by 50 light years. Like many nebulae, it appears pink in time-exposure color photos but is gray to the eye peering through binoculars or a telescope, human vision having poor color sensitivity at low light levels. The nebula contains a number of Bok globules (dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material), the most prominent of which have been catalogued by E. E. Barnard as B88, B89 and B296. It also includes a funnel-like or tornado-like structure caused by a hot O-type star that emanates ultraviolet light, heating and ionizing gases on the surface of the nebula. The Lagoon Nebula also contains at its centre a structure known as the Hourglass Nebula (so named by John Herschel), which should not be confused with the better known Engraved Hourglass Nebula in the constellation of Musca. In 2006, four Herbig–Haro objects were detected within the Hourglass, providing direct evidence of active star formation by accretion within it. (Explore Scientific ED127, Antlia SHO 3nm, ZWO AM%, ASI2600MM-Pro, ASIAIR, Pixinsight, Photoshop).
This is one of the best known regions of ionized hydrogen in our skies. Located in Sagittarius near the point of the winter solstice, the Lagoon Nebula is a sprawling region of active star formation about 4,000 light years away. Where are the stars forming? You have to look for the dark knots of material in this image. Those dusty regions are where the density is high enough to block the background light from nebula. That is where gravitational collapse is causing enough material to come together to make new stars.
I used Atk Hα and OIII narrowband filters with an Atik 414-EX monochrome camera on a Celestron Edge HD 925 with HyperStar to take sets of 2 minute guided exposures. The HyperStar filter slider system made it easy to switch from one filter to the other. This was shot entirely from light polluted skies in Long Beach, CA. Hydrogen data was mapped to R, and oxygen data to G and B. This is two panels combined as a mosaic. Preprocessing in Nebulosity; stacking, channel and mosaic combination, and processing in PixInsight; some final touches in Photoshop.
The image spans an area of 68' by 54' at a scale of 2.5"/pixel.
Image center is near RA 18h 3m 43s, DEC -24° 19'.
The Lagoon Nebula (catalogued as Messier 8 or M8, NGC 6523, Sharpless 25, RCW 146, and Gum 72) is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius. It is classified as an emission nebula and as an H II region. The Lagoon Nebula is estimated to be between 4,000–6,000 light-years away from the Earth. In the sky of Earth, it spans 90' by 40', which translates to an actual dimension of 110 by 50 light years. Like many nebulae, it appears pink in time-exposure color photos but is gray to the eye peering through binoculars or a telescope, human vision having poor color sensitivity at low light levels. The nebula contains a number of Bok globules (dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material), the most prominent of which have been catalogued by E. E. Barnard as B88, B89 and B296. It also includes a funnel-like or tornado-like structure caused by a hot O-type star that emanates ultraviolet light, heating and ionizing gases on the surface of the nebula. The Lagoon Nebula also contains at its centre a structure known as the Hourglass Nebula (so named by John Herschel), which should not be confused with the better known Engraved Hourglass Nebula in the constellation of Musca. In 2006, four Herbig–Haro objects were detected within the Hourglass, providing direct evidence of active star formation by accretion within it. (Explore Scientific ED80, Skywatcher HEQ5, ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro, Radian Triad Ultra Narrowband Filter, N.I.N.A., 100m integration).
The Lagoon Nebula (catalogued as Messier 8 or M8, NGC 6523, Sharpless 25, RCW 146, and Gum 72) is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius. It is classified as an emission nebula and as an H II region. The Lagoon Nebula is estimated to be between 4,000–6,000 light-years away from the Earth. In the sky of Earth, it spans 90' by 40', which translates to an actual dimension of 110 by 50 light years. Like many nebulae, it appears pink in time-exposure color photos but is gray to the eye peering through binoculars or a telescope, human vision having poor color sensitivity at low light levels. The nebula contains a number of Bok globules (dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material), the most prominent of which have been catalogued by E. E. Barnard as B88, B89 and B296. It also includes a funnel-like or tornado-like structure caused by a hot O-type star that emanates ultraviolet light, heating and ionizing gases on the surface of the nebula. The Lagoon Nebula also contains at its centre a structure known as the Hourglass Nebula (so named by John Herschel), which should not be confused with the better known Engraved Hourglass Nebula in the constellation of Musca. In 2006, four Herbig–Haro objects were detected within the Hourglass, providing direct evidence of active star formation by accretion within it. (Celestron EdgeHD800, ZWO ASI2600MM, AM5, ASIAIR, EAF, EFW, Antlia SHO 3nm, Pixinsight, Photoshop).
My latest attempt to photograph two of the bright nebulae in the evening sky in September. We were lucky and picked a night with perfect weather. With good seeing and no wind to shake the camera tripod the picture came out looking nice and sharp.
This is the Lagoon Nebula (M8) embedded in the constellation Sagittarius. Is a giant interstellar cloud and is being energized by hot young stars. I re-processed this 12 year old data using all the newest and greatest improvements in Pixinsight software. Taken with the Ceravolo300mm at f/4.9 with a 16803 full format camera. 7 hours of LRGB with hydrogen-alpha, oxygen and sulfur filters. Spectrally mapped to their actual wavelengths/colours.
H-alpha, S-III narrowband and photometric g’ filters
Taking with the SIGMA fp (monochrome) / SIGMA fp L / Celestron RASA 11" / 10 Micron GM1000 Mount.
Total acquisition time ca. 2.5 hrs, ISO 1600, F2.2, 620mm
Registration in AstroPixelProcessor further processing to taste in Photoshop. Full Image: markjamesford.prodibi.com/a/rd6jv5qzrx67079//i/g6gw2vkedk...
Aug 21, 2020. 240×15 sec, Gain 30, Offset 218, QHY183c at -10C, Optolong L-eNhance filter, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6.
Taken in transparent skies from a Bortle 7-8 zone and using an Optolong L-eNhance filter. The filter allowed me to get an hour's worth of sub-images on the Lagoon Nebula and capture quite a bit of it. Not many nights like this in the summer months here in Cajun Country. I got lucky.
The Lagoon Nebula (catalogued as Messier 8 or M8, NGC 6523, Sharpless 25, RCW 146, and Gum 72) is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius. It is classified as an emission nebula and as an H II region. The Lagoon Nebula is estimated to be between 4,000–6,000 light-years away from the Earth. In the sky of Earth, it spans 90' by 40', which translates to an actual dimension of 110 by 50 light years. Like many nebulae, it appears pink in time-exposure color photos but is gray to the eye peering through binoculars or a telescope, human vision having poor color sensitivity at low light levels. The nebula contains a number of Bok globules (dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material), the most prominent of which have been catalogued by E. E. Barnard as B88, B89 and B296. It also includes a funnel-like or tornado-like structure caused by a hot O-type star that emanates ultraviolet light, heating and ionizing gases on the surface of the nebula. The Lagoon Nebula also contains at its centre a structure known as the Hourglass Nebula (so named by John Herschel), which should not be confused with the better known Engraved Hourglass Nebula in the constellation of Musca. In 2006, four Herbig–Haro objects were detected within the Hourglass, providing direct evidence of active star formation by accretion within it. (Explore Scientific ED80, Skywatcher HEQ5, ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro, Radian Triad Ultra Narrowband Filter, N.I.N.A., 100m integration).