M20

Emission + Reflection Nebulosity in Sagittarius

Uploaded 6/19/02

One of the brightest nebula in the entire sky, the Trifid nebula offers twin photographic opportunities, a red primary nebula and just to the north a reflection counterpart of equal interest. This nebula also has a large number of bold obscuring dust lanes, dividing the object into several sections. This is a two part mosaic with the ST7E. The upper image is an RRGB using a a red luminance and the lower blue nebula is a BRGB, using a blue luminance. Note the large number of orange stars in the blue frame. This is a byproduct of the blue luminance. Since the orange and red stars are highly dimmed by the blue filter - which boosts the blue nebulas contrast, the star colors are deepened to the point of over saturation. A small price to pay for the extended blue nebulosity captured here. About an inch and a half to the right of the bright star in the blue nebula, you can see the dark eyes and face of an extra terrestrial ; )

Instrument:  12.5" f/5 Home made Newtonian
Platform:  Astrophysics 1200 QMD
CCD Camera:  SBIG ST7E w/Enhanced Cooling
Exposure:  RRGB = 60:20:20:20 (RGB Binned 2x2)
Exposure:  BRGB = 60:20:20:20 (RGB Binned 2x2)
RGB Combine Ratio:  1: .95: 1.8
Filters:  RGB Tricolor
Location:  Payson, Arizona
Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing FMHW = 2.5 arcsec, Transparency 8/10
Outside Temperature:  15 C
CCD Temperature:  -20 C
Processing:  Maxim DL, Photoshop, AIP4WIN, PW Pro.
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