Lagoon Nebula
A mere 4,000-6,000 light years away, the Lagoon Nebula contains many Bok globules (dark collapsing clouds). At the nebulas center is a structure known as the Hourglass Nebula named by John Herschel, which provides direct evidence of active star formation.
Photographed in LRGB and Hydrogen-Alpha, this target never exceeded 27 degrees on the horizon, thus making it a difficult subject to be photographed from Colorado.
| Object | Lagoon Nebula |
| Link | https://www.shetzers.com/lagoon-nebula-m8/ |
| Wiki Link | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagoon_Nebula |
| Hemisphere | Northern |
| Constellation | Sagittarius |
| Other Names contained in image | Messier 8, M8, NGC 6523, Sharpless 25, RCW 146, Gum 72 |
| Imaging telescopes or lenses | Takahashi FSQ -106ED4 |
| Imaging cameras | QHY268M |
| Mounts | Software Bisque Paramount MYT |
| Focal reducers | None |
| Software | Software Bisque The Sky X, PHD Lab PHD2, NINA, Viking, PixInsight, Photoshop, Lightroom |
| Filters | Astrodon LRGB Gen2 E-Series Tru-Balance 36mm unmounted. Chroma Technology Narrowband 3nm Ha, SII, OIII – 36mm Unmounted |
| Accessories | Moonlite NightCrawler 35 focuser, Maxdome II, Digital Loggers Pro Switch, Sky Alert Weather Station, Pegagsus Ultimate Powerbox v2, Starlight Xpress filter wheel. |
| Guiding Telescope or Lenses | Orion 60mm Guide Scope |
| Guiding Camera | ZWO ASI224MC Guide Camera |
| Imaging Dates | 6/2/22, 6/3/22, 6/11/22, 6/13/22, 6/21,22, 7/2/22 |
| Frames | Luminance: 27×300″ (2.25h) Gain 25, Photographic Mode, Temp -10C, Bin 1×1 Red: 16×300″ (1.3h) Gain 25, Photographic Mode, Temp -10C, Bin 1×1 Green: 16×300″ (1.3h) Gain 25, Photographic Mode, Temp -10C, Bin 1×1 Blue: 16×300″ (1.3h) Gain 25, Photographic Mode, Temp -10C, Bin 1×1 Ha: 28×600″ (4.6h) Gain 60, High Gain Mode, Temp -10C, Bin 1×1 |
| Integration | 10h 45′ |
| Darks | 50 |
| Flats | 20 per Filter |
| Flat Darks | 40 |
| Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: | 2 |
| RA center | 270.946407 |
| DEC center | -24.379102 |
| Pixel scale | 3.76 |
| Resolution | 6280 x 4210 |
| Locations | Sirus 3.5m Observatory, Carbondale Colorado |
| Data source | Backyard |
| Seeing | Average |
| Bortles | 2 |
| Post Processing Techniques | PixInsight to Photoshop to Lightroom |
| Median FWHM Pixels | L 3.266, R 3.186 G 3.188 B 3.323 Ha 3.559 |
Lagoon Nebula – M8 was last modified: January 23rd, 2023 by