Glenn's Astrophotography

 

 

 
M8 also know as the Lagoon Nebula (seen in the lower left of the image) is in the constellation of Sagittarius and is a diffuse emission nebula lying about 5200 light years from Earth. The young open star cluster NGC 6530 within was formed from the gas and dust comprising the nebula. The numerous dark regions in the nebula are areas where the hydrogen cloud is condensing and is in the process of forming new stars.

M20 also know as the Trifid Nebula (seen in the upper right of the image) is also in the constellation of Sagittarius and is both a diffuse emission nebula (reddish region) and a reflection nebula (bluish) region. A reflection nebula is a dust and hydrogen gas cloud that is visible to us not by internal radiation, but by the reflection of starlight in the foreground from Earth's perspective. M20 is also at a distance of about 5200 light years from Earth.

Image capture and processing information:

Date/Location: August 06, 2005 Lake Sonoma, Sonoma County, California
Instrument: Canon 6.1 Megapixel 300D Digital Rebel SLR through a modified Orion ED100 refractor using a Celestron .63 Focal Reducer piggybacked on a Celestron CM-1100 Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector
Focal Ratio: Approximately f6.0
Guiding: Manually guided through the Celestron CM-1100
Conditions: Visually clear but hazy
Weather: 70 F, slight breeze
Exposure: 30 minutes @ ISO 1600 (6 x 5 min exposures)
Processing: Focused and captured with DSLRFocus. Images stacked and processed using RegiStax 2.1 and Microsoft Photo Editor

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