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"Night of the Trifid"
Hi all,
I took inspiration from a recent thread on M20 to have a crack at this beautiful beastie.
Neat through the eyepiece, its soft glow is not the brightest against the background skyglow. Still, its distinct lane markings are easy to see.
Using an OIII/Hbeta filter in my 17.5" dobbie, I saw a remarkable thing. Not only does it stand out much more clearly, as to be expected, but the main "flower" of M20 had to my eyes a distinct purple/violet hue to it. Especially considering that the violet end of the spectrum our eyes at this dim level of illumination, do not pick up this colour well at all. Actually, we shouldn't see it! But there it was, soft in value, but definately violet to my eyes.
The lanes of M20 are a nice challenge as they required averted vision to make out more clearly. Their twisting, winding nature also giving hints to a striated/filamentary structure.
There is an open cluster close by to M20, which I would have liked to have captured in this sketch, but I got the proportions not quite right as the cluster is just beyond the field of view in the 24mm Hyperion I was using. Bit of a shame as the two together would make for a very striking composition. I'll look to revisit M20 and its celestial companion sometime soon. I'd also like to tackle M20 at higher magnification too - this is one DSO that begs for a more careful inspection.
Object: M20, the Trifid Nebula
Scope: 17.5" push-pull dob
Gear: 24mm Hyperion, 83X, OIII/Hbeta filter
Date: 23rd April, 2012
Location: Katoomba Airfield, Oz
Media: White and violet soft pastels and black charcoal on A4 size black paper. Sketch about 16cm in diameter
Duration: 2hrs
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