M8 (NGC 6523) The Lagoon Nebula & M20 (NGC 6514) The Trifid Nebula LRGB
Shot over 8 nights from my backyard observatory late august, early sep 2012, this is a LRGB (luminance, red, green and blue) image using the TMB92SS refractor and QHY9M monochrome CCD. For me this is quite a difficult target as it lies at only 22 degrees above my horizon at it's peak. Because of this I was also limited to about 2 hours each "clear" night of shooting as the object quickly dissapears to the western horizon. Sometimes I wish I lived much further south as there are so many beautiful objects in this part of the sky.
Total Exposure 4.5 hours
Clear Skies
Terry
Down Under ObservatoryDown Under Observatory on FacebookYouTubeImage Information
Location: DownUnder Observatory, Fremont MI
Date of Shoot August 21, 22, 23, September 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 2012
Exposures:
QHY9M mono CCD
RGB 6 x 10 min each
Luminance 19 x 5 min
Camera: QHY9M monochrome CCD, cooled to -30C
www.astrofactors.comStarlightXpress Color Filter Wheel
Scope: Thomas M. Back TMB 92SS F5.5 APO Refractor
www.astronomics.comAstro Tech AT2FF Field Flattener
For guiding: StarlightXpress Lodestar autoguider, StarlightXpress Ultra Slim Off Axis guider
Paramount GT-1100S German Equatorial Mount (with MKS 4000)
Image Aquisition Maxim DL
Stacking and Calibrating: CCDStack
Registration of images in CCDStack and Registar
Post Processing Photoshop CS5
Both of these objects are intensely rich with HII regions. To the right of this image is M8 or NGC 6523 The Lagoon Nebula, a giant emission Nebula and HII region in the constellation Sagittarius, estimated at 4,000 to 6,000 light years from us.
Upper left in this image can be seen M20 or NGC 6514 known as The Trifid Nebula also in the constellation of Sagittarius and lies at a distance of approximately 5000 light years from us. This object is a combination of emission nebula (the red area), reflection nebula (the blue area) and dark nebula (the dark jagged lines within the Trifid Nebula)
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