A famous region towards the heart of the galaxy, captured in wide field (about 3.5 x 2.3 degrees). The Lagoon Nebula (M8 or NGC 6523) is a vast cloud of interstellar gas in the constellation Sagittarius (55 x 20 light years across). To the lower right is the Trifid Nebula (M20 or NGC 6541), another colourful HII region. They are located 4,100 to 5,200 light years from Earth.
Taken on 2 August using an ED80T CF astrograph refractor with Sony NEX-3 OSC DSLR @ ISO800 (unmodified).
The image was captured in urban (Bortle 6 skies), and is composed of a layered blend of 25 x 5 min and 50 x 30 sec subs (culled from a larger batch). Total integration = 2.5 hours
Guided using Metaguide with an ASI120MM-S camera.
Captured and pre-processed with flats (light box), bad pixel map and bias in Nebulosity. Post-processed in StarTools.
Full capture/processing details and high rez version here:
http://www.astrobin.com/114602/
I'd encourage you to look at the more detailed version on Astrobin!
http://cdn.astrobin.com/images/thumb..._watermark.jpg