The Lagoon Nebula ... Messier 8
The Lagoon Nebula ... Messier 8
For a close-up view of this nebubla, click here
M8 is a giant spectacular emission nebula in Sagittarius and is located at a distance of somewhere between 4,500 to 6,000 light-years. Within this awesome nebula, new stars are being born. I took this 80 minute image Saturday night, July 27, beginning around 11:30 pm. (The stars in the upper right quadrant in the full picture are out of focus ... Seems to be an issue with the mirror alignment.). The AVX mount was at its maximum weight limit but tracking was spot on ... very small RMS error of 0.24px.
The Milky Way in Sagittarius:
(Hover over the picture for definitions ... Click on it to enlarge)
I took this 15 minute wide view of the Milky Way with my Canon T7i piggy-backed atop the telescope. Here you can see the 'Milkiness' of the core of our galaxy. Within this region lies several 'Messier Objects' including M 17, also known as the Omega Nebula. Jupiter was off to the right and as you can see, it moved a bit toward the east (left).
The 'Techy Stuff' (For those who want to know)
Telescope: Orion 190 mm f/5.3 Maksoutov-Newtonian Astrograph
Mount: Celestron AVX
Mount controls: Celestron PWI V2.1.25
Camera: Altair 'Hypercam 294c Pro tec'
Camera sensor temperature setting: 23°F
Filter: Baader UHC-S Light Pollution
Guiding: PHD2 (RMS Error: 0.24px ... i.e. excellent tracking)
Capture Software: SharpCap Pro
Settings: Binning 1x1 ... Fits files
Light Frames: 40 at 120 seconds ... gain: 7200
Bias Frames: 40
Dark Frames: 40
Flat Frames: 40
Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
Post Processing: PixInsight & Photoshop CC
Seeing conditions: 9 (based on 0-10 where 10 is crystal clear)
Outside Temperature: 72°F
Bortle Light Pollution index: 4.5 (Can barely see the Milky Way)
Location: My Backyard, Savannah, GA
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