This is - in a nutshell - a spectacular field. Lying in the heart of our Milky Way, this nebulous region is readly visible to the naked eye as a fuzzy star, and more of this nebulosity can be maked out wearing binoculars. However, the true beauty and colours of it can only be captured in long exposure deep astrophotos.
Lagoon - M8 - and the Trifid - M20 - look just like brothers - side by side on the night sky.
I'm pretty happy with how this image turned out, as it has relatively short integration time - 30 minutes - and 2-4 times more time would yeld more impressive results. However, being a pretty bright target, the region doesn't require extremely deep exposures. Furthermore - as I already imaged this target before (at least 3 times, actually), I just found it better to spend more time in different and deeper regions.
My progress can be seen in this sequence: How much did it improve? Comment below!
1st
http://www.astrobin.com/63647/ ( August 2013 )
2nd
http://www.astrobin.com/110844/I/ ( July 2014 )
*Please check the full image 2400px - resized from original 5000px)*
Constructive criticism, comments and suggestions are more than welcome in the comments section. Thank's for taking your time to look at this image.
Taken from Rural Skies (Bortle 3-4; NELM ~6.2; SQM ~21.4*calculated), from Cristina, MG, Brazil (22ºS latitude).
Date and Time: July 3rd, 2016, at 23h (11pm) (UTC-3)
Camera: Unmodded Canon T4i/650D, at ISO 800
Lens: Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8, at 200mm, operated at f/3.5
Exposure Detail: 16x120s, total 32min
*Revision -B- is a starless version of this field. In astroimaging, the line between Art and Science is even fuzzier and thinner. This image depicts that. To my taste, different and unnatural version of original image, not faithful to reality. However, it, alone, is also an work of art in its own, beautiful as well. Even preferring the regular version, my artistic side is also fond of the starless. What do you think?*
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