M8 A look deep inside the Lagoon Nebula

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Here is a relatively close up view of the main area inside the Lagoon Nebula. Taken over two nights last week under great conditions. It is a six filter image using SII Ha and OIII filters as well as R G & B for a total of 12hrs of data. I have intentionally processed it in order to reveal the wealth of inner nebula structures and layers, deep inside the bright nebula, while still respecting the relevant brightness variations, hopefully this keeps it looking natural and looking gaseous. It is an amazing nebula with many cool structures to look at, so it's fun scanning the full frame image for them.

Seeing was as usual pretty good FWHM of sub frames ~ 1.6" - 1.9" no wind, no dew and only some short periods of faint high cloud to contend with.

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Just the good bits

A close up of the hourglass

Hope you enjoy the view

Mike

[joshman (Josh)]

VERY well resolved Mike! You've even managed to process the inner hourglass structure without blowing it out (something I've always struggle with!)

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by joshman

VERY well resolved Mike! You've even managed to process the inner hourglass structure without blowing it out (something I've always struggle with!)

Cheers Josh, it was a fun and satisfying two nights on the mountain, I love it up there, every time I exit the dome and just walk around looking up, or at the handful of twinkling lights of Cooma on the horizon, my mouth still gapes , I feel quite ridiculously privileged , Eagleview rarely disappoints, happy with the result

Mike

[AstroJason (Jason)]

That's a very nice close up view Mike. Like Josh said, seeing that inner hourglass structure is special. Reminds me of the Hubble version of it where part of the hourglass at the bottom left looks like a twister!

You're so lucky to have an Obsy up there! Even just the view from up there looks awesome let alone how dark it must be!

[Startrek (Martin)]

Another superb image Mike
Incredible detail in that core region
Well done !!
I’m surprised you had stable conditions up there on the mountain
I’ve been at my south coast Obs for the past 10 days with clear nights but atmospheric conditions have been crap all night until the early hours. Stars scintillating like crazy.
Managed to capture the Lobster under a receding moon , subs were poor but image turned out better than I expected.

Cheers
Martone

[Nikolas (Nik)]

Love the detail in the core. Really managed the highlights well!

[multiweb (Marc)]

Noice!
Can't go wrong with a good M8.

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Wow Mike - exquisite detail there in the core around the hourglass.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by AstroJason

That's a very nice close up view Mike. Like Josh said, seeing that inner hourglass structure is special. Reminds me of the Hubble version of it where part of the hourglass at the bottom left looks like a twister!

You're so lucky to have an Obsy up there! Even just the view from up there looks awesome let alone how dark it must be!

Cheers Jason actually the darkness seems to have reduced slightly at Eagleview, since 2021 when we acquired the property, back then my best SQM readings registered in the 21.90's but since the Tongan explosion in early 2022 (an anecdotal connection but seems to have correlated with the decline..?), in more recent times and even though I don't get the meter out very often, SQM readings seem to have dropped a little , with 21.75 the more common best reading now...perhaps Solar max had an influence too?..we'll see if it improves again..?..still very dark skies though, with an impressive Milky Way overhead at the moment I was just spoiled by those early nights and readings...

Originally Posted by Startrek

Another superb image Mike
Incredible detail in that core region
Well done !!
I’m surprised you had stable conditions up there on the mountain
I’ve been at my south coast Obs for the past 10 days with clear nights but atmospheric conditions have been crap all night until the early hours. Stars scintillating like crazy.
Managed to capture the Lobster under a receding moon , subs were poor but image turned out better than I expected.

Cheers
Martone

Thanks Martone yeah I was trying to show plenty of feature detail without too much sharpening, so it looked like gas, I also dimmed it overall a bit, as I felt this kept it looking more gaseous and natural....sigh, processing choices, like a good Bolognese sauce, everytime it's different

I haven't experienced a night of "bad" seeing for quite a while actually, bad as in FWHM > 2.2"

Originally Posted by Nikolas

Love the detail in the core. Really managed the highlights well!

Cheers Nik, I tried

Originally Posted by multiweb

Noice!
Can't go wrong with a good M8.

Ah Marc, yeeeess...M8, your baby ...like Bill from the continent, we only see you pop up here and there

Originally Posted by Retrograde

Wow Mike - exquisite detail there in the core around the hourglass.

Thanks a lot Pete

Mike