M8, Lagoon Nebula, NGC 6514, and M20, Trifid Nebula, NGC 6523

My first stab at capturing M8, The Lagoon Nebula, and M20, Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius. I haven't really been doing astrophotography lately and I certainly hadn't been doing any processing, so I thought this came out pretty well, all things considered.

Imaging telescope or lens:GSO 8" f/5 Newton

Imaging camera:ZWO ASI 183 MM PRO

Mount:SkyWatcher NEQ6 Pro Goto

Guiding telescope or lens:GSO 8" f/5 Newton

Guiding camera:Astrolumina Alccd5L-IIc

Focal reducer:Pal Gyulai GPU Aplanatic Koma Korrector 4-element

Software:DeepSky Stacker Deep Sky Stacker 3.3.4, Main Sequence Software Seqence Generator Pro, FitsWork 4, Adobe PhotoShop CS5, PHD2 Guiding

Filters:Baader B 1.25'' CCD Filter, Baader G 1.25'' CCD Filter, Baader R 1.25'' CCD Filter, Baader L 1.25'' Filter

Accessory:TSOptics TS Off Axis Guider - 9mm

Dates:June 28, 2019, June 29, 2019

Frames:

Baader B 1.25'' CCD Filter: 10x240" (gain: 53.00) -20C bin 1x1

Baader G 1.25'' CCD Filter: 10x240" (gain: 53.00) -20C bin 1x1

Baader L 1.25'' Filter: 28x240" (gain: 53.00) -20C bin 1x1

Baader R 1.25'' CCD Filter: 10x240" (gain: 53.00) -20C bin 1x1

Integration: 3.9 hours

Darks: ~37

Flats: ~27

Bias: ~100

Avg. Moon age: 25.53 days

Avg. Moon phase: 17.26%

RA center: 270.621 degrees

DEC center: -22.991 degrees

Pixel scale: 0.495 arcsec/pixel

Orientation: 268.550 degrees

Field radius: 0.436 degrees

Locations: Linden, Linden, Bayern, Germany

Data source: Traveller

Object description (wikipedia.org):

The Trifid Nebula (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region located in Sagittarius. It was discovered by Charles Messier on June 5, 1764. Its name means 'divided into three lobes'. The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars; an emission nebula (the lower, red portion), a reflection nebula (the upper, blue portion) and a dark nebula (the apparent 'gaps' within the emission nebula that cause the trifurcated appearance; these are also designated Barnard 85). Viewed through a small telescope, the Trifid Nebula is a bright and peculiar object, and is thus a perennial favorite of amateur astronomers.

The Trifid Nebula is a star-forming region in the Scutum spiral arm of the Milky Way. The most massive star that has formed in this region is HD 164492A, an O7.5III star with a mass more than 20 times the mass of the Sun. This star is surrounded by a cluster of approximately 3100 young stars.

Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae, located in the constellation of Sagittarius, about 5200 light years away.

My husband has been an avid amateur astronomer/astrophotographer since his teens; in fact, we met through a shared interest in astronomy. I've always loved the images he produces, and have been wanting to try my hand at astrophotography for some time, so this week's theme was the perfect excuse to finally give it a go!

This image was captured by piggybacking my DSLR onto one of my husband's telescopes. He wrangled the 'scope and did the initial compilation of images (4 'light' frames and 4 'dark' frames) in Images Plus, but I looked after the focusing/framing/exposure settings and did the final editing with my usual editing software - so it was a team effort! I definitely couldn't have done this without his coaching and advice - and gear :)

Nebulosa diffusa (M20) - Nebulosa a emissione (M8) - somma di 18 scatti da 6 minuti a 800 ISO. Strumenti: Canon Eos 350D mod.; Takahashi Fsq106 f/5 - Eq6 Pro Mount, 7dark, 25 flat. Località: Spinello (Fc). Data: 09/07/2010

Equipment: Sigma 35mmF1.4 Art, IDAS NB12 Clear Filter, and EOS R6-SP5, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5n Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 174MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding

Exposure: 12 times x 600 seconds, 10 x 240 sec, and 9 x 60 seconds at ISO 1,600 and f/3.2 with Clear Filter

site: 2,560m above sea level at lat. 24 23 21 South and long. 70 12 01 West near the peak of Cerro Ventarrones Chile

Ambient temperature was 11 degrees Celsius or 52 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild, and guide error RMS was 0.73". Sky was dark, and SQML was 21.77 at the night.

Equipment: Sigma 35mmF1.4 Art, IDAS NB12 Dual Narrowband Filter, and EOS R6-SP5, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5n Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 174MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding

Exposure: 11 times x 1,200 seconds,8 x 240 sec, and 17 x 60 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/3.2

site: 2,560m above sea level at lat. 24 23 21 South and long. 70 12 01 West near the peak of Cerro Ventarrones Chile

Ambient temperature was 11 degrees Celsius or 52 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild, and guide error RMS was 0.73". Sky was dark, and SQML was 21.77 at the night.

Now in summer astrophotography season, our galaxy The Milky Way is showing all of it's wondrous sights. Photographed from my backyard in the Alexander Valley, Sonoma County, Calif.

Messier 20 (M20), also known as the Trifid Nebula, is a famous star-forming region located in the constellation Sagittarius. The name Trifid refers to its three-lobed appearance. Messier 20 consists of several different objects: an emission nebula, a reflection nebula, a dark nebula and an open star cluster. Approx 5200 light years from Earth.

This is a two pane mosaic stretching from Libra to Sagittarius, captured from Barronal beach in Cabo de Gata, Spain. The bright yellow/gold 'star' on the right is Saturn in all it's glory.

I've always loved this area of the sky, it has almost anything you care to name. In this image you can see emission nebula, reflection nebula, dark nebula, globular clusters, open clusters, millions of individual stars, a planet, and a section of our home galaxy!

Canon 60Da

35mm Samyang at f/2.8

Astronomik CLS EOS Clip Filter

AstroTrac TT320X-AG (no guiding)

45x 120 second exposures per pane

Integration time: 90 minutes per pane

ISO 1600

Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker, stitched in Microsoft ICE and processed in Photoshop. Taken in Cabo de Gata National Park in Spain, May 2014.

Per pane:

35x 120s lights

35 darks

35 flats

35 dark flats

35 bias frames

Objects visible in the image:

M4 (NGC 6121), M20 (NGC 6514), M8 (NGC 6523), M21 (NGC 6531), M17 (NGC 6618), M16 (NGC 6611), M23 (NGC 6494), M25 (IC 4725), NGC 6604

equipmnent: Sigma 40mmF1.4 DG HSM Art and Canon EOS 6D-sp4, modified by Seo-san on Takahashi EM-200FG-Temma 2Z-BL, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, Starlight Xpress Lodestar Autoguider, and PHD2 Guiding

exposure: 9 times x 15 minutes, 5 x 4 min, 5 x 1 minute at ISO 1,600 and f/4.0

site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 South and long. 70 16 11 West near Cerro Armazones Chile

Telescope: WO ZenithStar 81 Refractor

Mount: Losmandy GM811G

Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC Pro

Filter: Optolong L-Extreme Filter

Site: Elk Grove, California, USA

Calibration Files: None

Guiding: ZWO ASI 174mm mini/Orion 60mm Guidescope/PHD2

Integration Time: 5h 30m

No of Frames: -

Sub Exposure Time: -

Bortle Zone: Class 6

Date Taken: July 11, 2021

I think that nova is still in there somewhere.

I love how well M8 and M20 show up at 50mm with my modified T3i

Lots of moonlight last night but I wanted to see how my camera and scope performed in that light. This took a ton of work to process to where I halfway liked it and I'm planning to gather much more data on this object when the sky is darker.

Taken last night, utilizing a new field flattener I purchased from Orion Telescopes. This image is the full frame image with no cropping, which shows a great flat image end-to-end.

The image quality is okay. I was shooting into the border area between dark sky and a big light dome. Some more data with better focus will improve this a fair bit.

Imaging scope: Astrotelescopes 80mm ED refractor

Imaging camera: Nikon D7000

Guiding scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval refractor

Guiding camera: Orion Star Shoot Autoguider

Mount: Celestron CGEM

Light Frames: 6*6 mins @ ISO1250

Dark frames: 3*6 mins

Processed in Deep Sky Stacker, GIMP, Neat Image and Snapseed.

50mm, f2.2

The Logoon and Trifid Nebula in the constellation Sagittarius. When looking in this region, you are looking into the center of the Milky Way, our galaxy. The Trifid Nebula (blue and red nebula) is near the top and is also known as M20. The Lagoon Nebula is the largest nebula in this view and is also known as M8. Several star clusters are also in view. This image is a composite of two 90-second images (additional images will be added soon) using a Canon 6D and 400mm lens, photographed on August 14, 2014.

The Trifid Nebula (Messier 20), taken with a Canon Hutech 40D camera, an IDAS LPS-V3 Filter and a Meade LX50 Telescope. It was made of 11 shots of 5 minutes each at ISO800. Bias, darks, flats and dark flats were also made. Seeing was about 3/5, transparency 4/5 y and ambient temp. was freezing at about -1ºC.

I like this framing of summer southern milkyway.

equipment: Sigma 40mmF1.4 Art and EOS 6D-SP4, modified by Seo-san on ZWO AM5 equatorial mount on the genuine tripod with counter weight 4.8kg, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding

exposure: 8 times x 900 seconds, 3 x 240 sec, 4 x 60 seconds at ISO 1,600 and f/3.2

site: 2,434m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 south and long. 70 16 11 west near Cerro Armazones in Sierra Vicuña Mackenna in Coast Range of Chile

Ambient temperature was around 10 degrees Celsius or 34 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild. Sky was dark, and SQML reached 21.83 at the night.

The Trifid Nebula (Messier 20/NGC 6514) is an H II region in the north-west of Sagittarius in a star-forming region in the Milky Way. It was discovered by Charles Messier on June 5, 1764. Its name means 'three-lobe'. The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars, an emission nebula (the relatively dense, reddish-pink portion), a reflection nebula (the mainly NNE blue portion), and a dark nebula (the apparent 'gaps' in the former that cause the trifurcated appearance, also designated Barnard 85). Viewed through a small telescope, the Trifid Nebula is a bright and peculiar object, and is thus a perennial favorite of amateur astronomers.

Equipment:

Explore Scientific ED127, ZWO ASI2600MM, EAF, EFW, ASIAIR, AM5

Antlia 3nm SHO filters, Pixinsight, Photoshop

equipmnent: Sigma 40mmF1.4 DG HSM Art and Canon EOS 6D-sp4, modified by Seo-san on Takahashi EM-200FG-Temma 2Z-BL, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, Starlight Xpress Lodestar Autoguider, and PHD2 Guiding

exposure: 9 times x 15 minutes, 5 x 4 min, 5 x 1 minute at ISO 1,600 and f/4.0

site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 South and long. 70 16 11 West near Cerro Armazones Chile

equipmnent: Sigma 28mmF1.4 DG HSM Art and Canon EOS 5Dmk2-sp2, modified by Seo-san on Takahashi EM-200FG-Temma 2Z-BL, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, Starlight Xpress Lodestar Autoguider, and PHD2 Guiding

exposure: 6 times x 15 minutes, 4 x 4 min, 8 x 1 minute at ISO 1,600 and f/3.5

site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 South and long. 70 16 11 West near Cerro Armazones Chile

Atacama Desert just before Sunset July 2019

www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/48588682472

Tone curve was elevated extremely on this frame, and we can view faint parts clearly.

Gegenschein is visible near the left upper corner. Summer southern gems are busy near the galactic plane in the right half.

Stars trailed near the right lower corner due to differential atmospheric refraction.

equipmnent: Sigma 40mmF1.4 DG HSM Art and Canon EOS 6D-sp4, modified by Seo-san on Takahashi EM-200FG-Temma 2Z-BL, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, Starlight Xpress Lodestar Autoguider, and PHD2 Guiding

exposure: 11 times x 15 minutes, 4 x 4 min, 8 x 1 minute at ISO 1,600 and f/4.0

site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 South and long. 70 16 11 West near Cerro Armazones Chile

Taken from Savannah Skies Observatory using a Canon EOS Ra and 400 mm lens.

LINK

Other images from this series:

1. M8 and M20: www.flickr.com/photos/jbrimacombe/51050919231/

2. M16: www.flickr.com/photos/jbrimacombe/51050319198/

3. NGC 6188: www.flickr.com/photos/jbrimacombe/51051043096/

4. M78: www.flickr.com/photos/jbrimacombe/51050317763/

5. Rho Ophiuchus: www.flickr.com/photos/jbrimacombe/51051288802/

6. Tarantula Nebula: www.flickr.com/photos/jbrimacombe/51051288607/

7. Vela SNR: www.flickr.com/photos/jbrimacombe/51050478748/

This photo was APOD on August 10 2015

Image taken at Kiripotib astrofarm in Namibia.

Nikon D600 with APM 107/700 with a Riccardi 0.75 reducer, mounted on Fornax 51 and guided with Lacerta MGEN

38x5min ISO800

20x10 ISO400

18x10min ISO400

Processed in PixInsight

dslr-astrophotography.com/m20-m8-ic1274/

Aberkenfig, South Wales

Lat +51.542 Long -3.593

Skywatcher 254mm Newtonian Reflector, Olympus E410 at prime focus. EQ6 Syntrek Mount.

Captured in two sessions on 29th & 30th May 2020

7 x 40s @ ISO 1600

3 x 30s @ ISO 1600

9 x 50s @ ISO 800

10 x 40s @ ISO 800

8 x 30s @ ISO 800

Also 10 dark frames.

Processed with Deep Sky Stacker and final levels adjusted with G.I.M.P.

The final image is cropped but it still displays some coma towards the edges. This is one drawback of a parabolic f/4.8 Newtonian.

A reasonable outcome considering the light pollution. Also the target does not get far above the horizon at my location.

It's a montage made out of 5 pictures, all of them afocal, Xiaomi Redmi 7A ISO100 16s f/2,2 3,8mm EV0.

Edited with MS Picture Manager, Photofiltre and MS Paint.

I made this montage in order to record our Milky Way galaxy across the skies covering from Ophiucus to Carina constellations on the high polluted skies of São Paulo. It's possible to see inumerous bright star clusters and stars. This picture cover constellations such as Scorpius (The Scorpion), Norma (The Set Square), Corona Australis (The Southern Crown), Telescopium (The Telescope), Circinus (The Compass), Ara (The Altar), Musca (The Fly), Crux (The Southern Cross) and Lupus (The Wolf) constellations. It's possible to se parts of the Sagittarius (The Archer), Serpens Caput (The Sepers' Head), Serpens Cauda (The Serpens' Tail), Ophiucus (The Serpent Bearer), Centaurus (The Centaur), Carina (The Keel), Volans (The Flying Fish), Pavo (The Peacock) and Pictor (The Painter) constellations and the planets Mars and Jupiter as well

Also, it's the first time I could register "kind of" the Large Magellanic Cloud (the largest neighbor of our galaxy).

Equipment: Sigma 35mmF1.4 Art, IDAS NB12 Dual Narrowband Filter, and EOS R6-SP5, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5n Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 174MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding

Exposure: 11 times x 1,200 seconds,8 x 240 sec, and 17 x 60 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/3.2

site: 2,560m above sea level at lat. 24 23 21 South and long. 70 12 01 West near the peak of Cerro Ventarrones Chile

Ambient temperature was 11 degrees Celsius or 52 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild, and guide error RMS was 0.73". Sky was dark, and SQML was 21.77 at the night.

The brightest part of the Milky Way with the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8) and the Trifid Nebula (Messier 20) and and and several hundred thousand individually visible stars on a clear night in August.

The photo is a stack of 32 frames with 20 seconds exposure time per frame. The field of view is about 15 by 10 degrees. Near the center of this 4000×2667 pixel version of the photo stars up to about magnitude 14 are identifiable.

Milky way and Izaña Observatory

Details: Canon T3i coupled to an apochromatic telescope mounted on a Skywatcher EQ-5 Pro Synscan. Exposure data: F=600mm, f/7.5, ISO 1600, T=90s. This picture is a result of 4 photos stitched together, each one a result of 3 or 4 stacked pictures.

I have to say that this is one of my favorite images that I've taken. You can see two amazing objects here.

The large object on the left is the Lagoon Nebula. It glows red due to ionized hydrogen as it recombines with lost electrons. The nebula's distance is estimated at 5000 light years which would make its physical diameter about 100 light years. This is an active stellar nursery and contains a number of dark globules (collapsing clouds of protostellar material). The Lagoon can be seen with the naked eye if you are in an area without much light pollution.

The smaller object on the right is the Trifid Nebula. The red area is an emission nebula similar to but much smaller than the Lagoon, but it also contains a reflection nebula, which shines blue because of nearby young and very hot stars.

Both nebulae are located in the constellation Sagittarius and this is the first time I've imaged both objects at the same time with a telescope. I have imaged them both at the same time with a wide angle camera lens, but not with a scope. I am quite pleased with the result.

equipment: Zeiss Aposonnar 135mmF2 and Canon EOS 5Dmk2-sp2, modified by Seo-san on Takahashi EM-200 Temma 2 Jr, autoguided with Takahashi FSQ-106ED, hiro-design off-axis guider, SX Lodestar Autoguider, and PHD Guiding

exposure: 3 times x 15 minutes, 4 x 4 min, and 4 x 1 minute at ISO 1,600 and f/3.2

site: 11,000 feet above sea level near Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii

Milky Way core as seen from the Mojave Desert

I took this image out at Saint Croix Observatory on a nice, clear night. Lots of other people came out, which was nice. The Lagoon is an object that I've always wanted to image, but for some reason or another, I kept missing it. So I finally go around to it!

23x4min exposures with my 80mm refractor and a Canon 7DII. Processing done in Images Plus.

i could enjoy imaging of the object during the residual time at the last night in Atacama Desert Chile. Ring-shaped vast hydrogen-alpha emission was clear near the center like Flag of Turkey.

Equipment: Sigma 35mmF1.4 DG HSM Art, IDAS NB12 Dual Narrow Band Filter, and EOS R6-SP5, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding

Exposure: 4 times x 60 seconds, 3 x 240 sec, and 4 times x 1,080 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/3.2

site: 2,430m above sea level at lat. 24 38 55 South and long. 70 16 52 West near Cerro Armazones Chile

SQML was 21.55 at the night. Ambient temperature was around 6 degrees Celsius or 43 degrees Fahrenheit.

This image was first a test of the new QHY600 OSC camera using only 15mins of exposure using a Takahashi FSQ106 EDX3.

I was surprised by the result for only 15 minutes of exposure...

Main objects visible:

MESSIER 8, NGC 6523, NGC 6530 - LAGOON NEBULA AND CLUSTER

The Lagoon Nebula, Messier 8 (NGC 6523) is one of the finest star-forming regions in the sky, and is faintly visible to the naked eye. It is a giant glowing cloud of interstellar gas, divided by a dark lane of dust, containing a cluster of young stars (NGC 6530) that have formed from it.

The brightest parts of the Lagoon Nebula contain a feature known as the "Hourglass Nebula", discovered and named by John Herschel. This is in a region where vivid star formation is taking place, and its bright emission is caused by heavy excitation from very hot, young stars.

The nebula also contains a number of dark globules which represent collapsing clouds of protostellar material. The most prominent of these dark patches were catalogued by E. E. Barnard: B 88, a comet-shaped globule extended North-to-South in the nebula's eastern half; B 89, a smaller dark nebula near the cluster NGC 6530; and B 296, a long, narrow black patch at the nebula's south edge.

Properties and Cluster

The Lagoon Nebula lies in the heart of the galaxy's Sagittarius-Carina spiral arm, but its distance is a bit uncertain. Estimates range from 4,800 to 6,500 light years, with 5,200 quoted by many sources. A 2006 study found a distance of 4,100 light years, which would make its true size about 110 x 50 light years. The nebula probably has a depth comparable to its linear dimensions. The dark "Bok" globules of collapsing protostellar material have diameters of about 10,000 AU.

Hubble Space Telescope image of the "hourglass" structure at the center of M 8.

The western half of M 8 is primarily illuminated by the magnitude 5.97 star 9 Sagittarii, an extremely hot O5 star which radiates 44 times more high-energy ultraviolet than visual light. At visual wavelengths, 9 Sagittarii is 23,000 times brighter than our Sun! The illuminator of the "Hourglass" feature is the hot star Herschel 36 (mag 9.5, spectral class O7). In 2006, four Herbig-Haro objects were detected within the Hourglass, providing the first direct evidence of active star formation by accretion within it.

The hot O-type stars of the young open cluster NGC 6530 are fluorescing the eastern part of the nebula. As their light shows little reddening by interstellar matter, this cluster is probably situated just in front of the Lagoon Nebula. Its brightest star is a hot, mag 6.9 class O5 star, with an age around 2 million years. The cluster also contains one extremely hot, peculiar star of spectral type Of, with spectral lines of ionized Helium and Nitrogen.

MESSIER 20, NGC 6514 - TRIFID NEBULA

Messier 20 (NGC 6514) is also known as the Trifid Nebula. Named for its three-lobed appearance, it is one of the most famous objects in the sky. This object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars, an emission nebula, a reflection nebula, and a dark nebula that divides the emission nebula into three parts.

The Trifid is nearly the size of the full moon, and contains both reddish emission and bluish reflection nebulosity. The red emission nebula, and young star cluster near its center, is surrounded by a blue reflection nebula which is particularly conspicuous at the northern end. The emission nebula spans a diameter of 15' around the central star. The fainter reflection nebula to the north, surrounding a yellowish magnitude 7.5 star, appears about half this size. Both sections of the nebula are enveloped by a faint outer haze that reaches a diameter of 30', and is more extensive to the east.

The relatively high surface brightness of M 20 provides a good contrast to its three dark, radial dust lanes. The three sections into which the dark lanes divide the nebula are unequal in area; the northern is largest, and the SW the smallest. The dark lanes themselves are unequal in length and width: the NE lane is longest and most distinct; the west lane is broad and short; and the south lane is thin and short. The lanes do not converge directly, but lead to a circular, mottled central area. High power reveals a short and very thin lane headed straight north from the inner half of the west lane.

Properties and Evolution

M 20 is estimated to lie about 5,200 light years away, on the far side of the same complex of nebulosity that includes the Lagoon Nebula, M 8. The Trifid's exact distance is rather uncertain, with estimates ranging from 2,200 to 9,000 light years. At the value of 5,200 light years adopted here, the Trifid spans a diameter about 10 light years across.

M 20 is only about 300,000 years old, making it among the youngest emission nebulae known. All of its bright central stars are extremely hot, of spectral type O5 to O7. They illuminate a dense pillar of gas and dust, producing a bright rim on the side facing them. Star formation is no longer occurring in the immediate vicinity of the central star cluster, because its intense radiation has blown away the gas and dust from which new stars are made.

RA: 18h 04m 53.5s

DEC: -24° 29’ 02.0“

Location: Sagittarius

Distance: 4,100 ly

Magnitude: 6.0

Captured July 17 2020

Fiel Of view: 3d 53' 50.7" x 2d 36' 26.0"

Total acquisition time of 15 mins.

Technical Details

Data acquisition: Martin PUGH

Processing: Nicolas ROLLAND

Location: Yass, New South Whales, Australia

RGB: 1 x 900sec

Optics: FSQ106 EDX3 @F/D 5.0

Mount: Paramount ME II

CCD: QHY600 OSC

Pre Processing: CCDstack & Pixinsight

Post Processing: Photoshop CC

Objects visible in the plate solved version:

NGC 6553 -- Globular cluster

NGC 6554 -- Open Cluster

NGC 6559 -- Star-forming region

IC 4685 -- Emission/reflection nebulae

IC 1274 -- HII (ionized) region

NGC 6530 -- Open cluster

Text source : Livesky.com

The Trifid Nebula (also known as Messier 20 and NGC 6514) is an H II region located in Sagittarius. The nebula's name means "divided into three lobes". The object is a remarkable collection of open cluster, emission nebula (the lower, red portion), reflection nebula (the upper, blue portion) and dark nebula (the septation within the emission nebula causing the trifid appearance, also designated Barnard 85).

Baader LRGB + Ha light frames - stack of total time 250 mins

Telescope: Vixen VC200L @ 1200mm

CCD: ATIK 314L Mono

Location: Gytheio Lakonias, Greece

Messier 8 (Lagoon Nebula) and Messier 20 (Trifid Nebula). 13x120s, ISO6400, 480mm, f/6, ED80, CLS filter.

Baader-modified T3i, 11x 3-minute, ISO 800. Celestron C8 @f/6.3. SSAG MM

Earlier effort with unmodified 60D

Equipment: Sigma 35mmF1.4 Art, IDAS NB12 Clear Filter, and EOS R6-SP5, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5n Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 174MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding

Exposure: 12 times x 600 seconds, 10 x 240 sec, and 9 x 60 seconds at ISO 1,600 and f/3.2 with Clear Filter

site: 2,560m above sea level at lat. 24 23 21 South and long. 70 12 01 West near the peak of Cerro Ventarrones Chile

Ambient temperature was 11 degrees Celsius or 52 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild, and guide error RMS was 0.73". Sky was dark, and SQML was 21.77 at the night.

I was a little bored and took the 550D with the 150-500 lens piggybacked and computer supported, on a Meade LX200GPS 10" telescope for some imaging last night. It was cold but I did not feel it - my wife should have taken a photo to show how one can fool the cold onslaught. 150 mm 1Sep2013 with ISO 400 F7.1 24 x 2 min exposures(48 min in total). Only Darks subtracted but no Flats or Biases and no filters used.

Greetings from my backyard!!!!!

Haven't had time to shoot darks/flats/bias frames. But displaying this anyway because it is significant on multiple levels:

1) My first time to process data in PixInsight. About 80% was done in PixInsight, rest was done in Photoshop CS5.

2) First complete astrophoto using the new iOptron iEQ45 mount.

3) First successful photo shot with the QHY9 on my new Takahashi TSA102.

Yes, there is a dust bunny (circle), which will be remedied by flat. And yes, there are green spikes attached to brighter stars. Not sure why PixInsight rejection algorithm failed to remove those.

Lum: 6 x 12min

Red: 4 x 10 min

Green: 4 x 10 min

Blue: 4 x 10min

Baader LRGB filters were used.

Osterholz-Scharmbeck, Germany, Canon EOS 600Dα, Ikharos ED refractor D = 80 mm f/5.6, 89 exposures of 30 s each at 1600 ISO, tracking only. Bayer averaged; curve stretch. Named Trifid nebula.

One man, the owner of astro shop in Las Vegas, told me this Lagoon nebula can be recognized with naked eyes on the mountain top near Las Vegas. I wanna be there.

500mm/F6.7

Exposure 84 minutes at ISO 800

14 captures stacked

Croped image

Zodiacal light is visible oblique in the lower half.

equipment: Sigma 35mmF1.4 DG HSM "Art" and Canon EOS 5Dmk2-sp2, modified by Seo-san on Takahashi EM-200 Temma 2 Jr, autoguided with Takahashi FSQ-106ED, hiro-design off-axis guider, SX Lodestar, and PHD Guiding

exposure: 6 times x 25 minutes, 3 x 15 min, 5 x 4 min, and 4 x 1 minute at ISO 1,600 and f/4.0

site: 11,000 feet above sea level near Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii

I like these objects in the area, and this is the third trial.

Here is the second in 2010.

www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/4926617740/

Here is the first trial with HDR in 2007.

www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/1273204355/

equipment: Takahashi FSQ-106ED and Canon EOS 5Dmk2-sp2, modified by Seo-san, on Takahashi EM-200 Temma 2 Jr, autoguided with hiro-design off-axis guider, SX Lodestar, and PHD Guiding

exposure: 5 times x 25 minutes, 3 x 15 min, 4 x 4 min, and 4 x 1 minute at ISO 1,600 and f/3.6

site: 11,000 feet above sea level near Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii

Captured with a Nikon D5500 and a 10-inch Meade LX200 on June 23, 2017.

30 1-minute captures at ISO3200, stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and processed in Photoshop.