by Michael DiMario, AAAP Astroimaging Chair

We begin a new astroimaging season with this edition of the Sidereal Times. The image below by AAAP astroimager Daniel Mints accessed a remote observatory, Starfront https://starfront.space with his own systems. The relatively inexpensive access to remote astroimaging observatories is becoming more attractive especially if we are surrounded by bad weather and the lack of space for our own observatories.

Daniel Mints – Lagoon and Trifid Nebulas

Lagoon Nebula (in the middle of the image) or known as M8 or NGC 6523 is an emission nebula in the constellation Sagittarius. The Lagoon Nebula is estimated to be between 4,000–6,000 ly away from Earth and its dimensions are about 100 ly by 50 ly.

The Trifid Nebula (upper right of the Lagoon Nebula) also known as M20 or NGC 6514 is an H II region in Sagittarius in a star-forming region in the Milky Way’s Scutum–Centaurus Arm located about 4200 ly from Earth and is 42 ly in diameter. Its name means “three-lobe.” The object is a combination of an open cluster of stars, an emission nebula (the relatively dense, reddish-pink portion), a blue reflection nebula, and a dark nebula comprising the gaps in the nebula that cause the three lobes.

This image of M8 and M20 was taken under Bortle 1 skies remotely at Starfront Observatory located near Brady, TX. This image has blended Ha data into the RGB data to create an image with bright reds/pinks representing the hydrogen gas throughout the area. Image is comprised of 5 hours of integration of:
Red – 10×600
Green – 10×600
Blue -10×600
Hydrogen Alpha – 12×600
Calibrated with Master Flat/dark/bias frames
Imaging system used is a Samyang 135mm + 183MM Pro on a Celestron AVX Mount.