M20
NGC 6514
Trifid Nebula
The Trifid Nebula captured and processed in RGB.
M20 is an HII region in the north-west of Sagittarius in a star -forming region in the Milky Way's Scutum-Centaurus Arm. 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, and emission nebula (reddish-pink portion), a reflection nebula (the blue portion), and a dark nebula (the apparent gaps in the former that cause the trifurcated appearance.
It's been a while since I have set up the DSO rig due to poor sky conditions so I jumped at the chance to photograph my first attempt at the Trifid with a break in the clouds. It's low in the sky from my location and all the "stars have to been in line" in order to get it in one night and last night was the night.
A little bit of bad news: when the subs were coming in, I noticed an artifact in the lower mid-section of the images. It appeared in all of the RGB subs so as I was putting up the telescope, I screwed off the 2600MM and saw what appeared to be the infamous
ZWO oil leak on the sensor. Luckily it hasn't spread across the entire sensor and I was able to process the data collected. Looks like a sensor scrub is upcoming.
See Revision E for a Red sub showing the oil artifact.
**Update**
I purchased a camera sensor cleaning kit and was able to remove the oil artifact from the sensor and cleaned up the extra oil on the board so hopefully the oil problem has been resolved.
Revision F - Before
Revision G - After cleaning
Thanks, Eddie
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