Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Sagittarius (Sgr)  ·  Contains:  Lagoon Nebula  ·  M 8  ·  NGC 6523  ·  NGC 6526  ·  NGC 6530  ·  The star 7 Sgr  ·  The star 9 Sgr
M8 - Lagoon Nebula - Come on in, the water's fine!, Dan Broyles
M8 - Lagoon Nebula - Come on in, the water's fine!
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M8 - Lagoon Nebula - Come on in, the water's fine!

M8 - Lagoon Nebula - Come on in, the water's fine!, Dan Broyles
M8 - Lagoon Nebula - Come on in, the water's fine!
Powered byPixInsight

M8 - Lagoon Nebula - Come on in, the water's fine!

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Description

OK. I know it's a lot of beautiful to soak in, but this is the Lagoon Nebula, also identified as Messier 8. It is a large bright nebula visible with binoculars under dark skies in the constellation of Sagittarius 5,000 light years away.
This is the first time I have imaged M8 with a refractor telescope so you will notice that there are no spikes on the stars. I like spikes on stars, but I am warming up to round spike-free stars more and more.
I stacked 125 3-minute images, then spent several hours processing the image to reduce noise and bring out the colors and detail you see.
Enjoy!

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M8 - Lagoon Nebula - Come on in, the water's fine!, Dan Broyles