M20 The Trifid Nebula Complex Close-up

[Galactic2000]

Hi ALL,

Here is M20 The Trifid Nebula Captured last night(early AM) 05-23-10. The Trifid nebula is a combination Emission(red) & Reflection Nebula(blue). It is a very beautiful object. This 9th Magnitude Stellar Nursery(Star Formation Region) sits about 5200 light years away in Sagittarius.

I shot this after the Moon set around 3:00am, I took a 100 minute exposure with my QHY8 CCD camera & Homemade 16" diameter Scope. (20 x 5 minute subs) Capture & Calibration with Nebulosity, Stacking & final adjustments in DeepSky Stacker, Maxim DL & Adobe.

I was surprised because we had lots of Fog set in that morning, and shooting through the muck, but it still came out decent.

I have several nice shots of the Trifid taken on film and digital over the
21 years I've been shooting, ........
but none with this much detail, you can see all the dark Bok globules, and the super faint outer halo of the Trifid, this is often lost in the background Milkyway. The dark globules and pillars within the Trifid's bright red section are 3D looking!

I'm glad I decided to try to shoot it again, despite the Fog.

[andyschlei]

The color and detail are very nice.

[Galactic2000]

Thanks Andy!

[kevin1981]

Thats a really cool photo