Messier 8

[benklerk]

The Lagoon Nebula is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius. It is classified as an emission nebula and a H II region. The Nebula is estimated to be between 4,000-6,000 light-years from the Earth, the age is about 2 million years old and its size is around 110 by 50 light years. The nebula contains a number of Bok globules (dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material), also the nebula is currently undergoing a period of active star formation and has already formed a sizable cluster of stars. NGC 6530, the extremely young open cluster formed from the material of M8, has a visual magnitude of 4.6 and covers an area of 14 arc minutes in the sky.

I have uploaded 2 versions. One shows more contrast while the other shows more of a natural colour.


GSO RC 6
ZWO ASI 1600mm with filters
HEQ5 Pro Belt Mod
LUM 49 x 2m = 98min
RED 50 x 3m = 150min
GREEN 43 x 3m = 129min
BLUE 52 x 3m = 156min
HA 44 x 10m = 440min
OIII 21 x 10m = 210min
Total time = 19.7 hrs

[strongmanmike]

Nice Lagoon, I like No 1 best Ben :)

Mike

[Slawomir]

A very nice image Ben, with plenty of detail :thumbsup:

[Geoff45]

Number one for me. Crisp sharpness there Ben.
Geoff

[Placidus]

We agree with Geoff and Strong Mike. Number 1 is very pleasing.

[codemonkey]

That's a really nice lagoon, very well done. I prefer #1 also.

Not to sound like a snob, but that's a remarkable achievement for an RC6 on a HEQ5. Looks sharper than what I got with far more costly equipment. Goes to show it's as much the operator as the gear!

[cometcatcher]

She's a beauty Ben!

Trust me to be different, but I think both bring different detail out. Number 1 looks like the regular routine view, but number 2 shows OIII much better which that region is shrouded in.

When I get my mono cam I'm going to be so much trouble on this forum. ;) :P

[benklerk]

Thanks guys for your responses

My little 6" is good but the weight issues I have annoying. All my gear on the back weighs about the same as my scope. So the scope is heavy on one side which I can't fixed, and Im also on the weight limit for my HEQ5 Pro. I will be like this way until I get my fixed setup completed, with all new gear.

[multiweb]

Really nice M8, outstanding details. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[benklerk]

Thanks Marc

Every new DSO image I do on monochrome, seems to get better and better.

[RickS]

Great detail, Ben!

[Paul Haese]

I don't mind either images Ben. Good detail in your nebulosity.

[benklerk]

Thanks Paul and Rick

Since going mono, I'm really happy on how much detail I can bring out. But its a lot more time consuming than a OSC. But the results are outstanding.