This stunning shot of the Lagoon nebula (M8) was caught by Ken Walker, in Sagittarius with his SVX130T-R. This emission nebula is one of only two star forming nebulae, that are faintly visible to the eye from mid-northern latitudes. It rests roughly 5,200 light-years away from Earth and has a diameter of about 150 light-years. In addition, it includes a tornado-like structure caused by a hot O-type star, that emanates ultraviolet light, heating and ionizing gasses on the nebula’s surface.

According to Ken: I took this image last month before the Monsoon season hit

This is an SII Ha And OIII blended image with RGB

88x300 SHO and 44x120 RGB for a little over 26 hours total data

M8 The Lagoon Nebula with NGC 6530 open cluster

Located in the constellation of Sagittarius

it is about 6000 light years from earth

RGB SHO

Other Designations: M8, Messier 8, Sharpless 25, RCW 146, Gum 72.

Details:

Telescope: Stellarvue SVX130T-R

Field Flattener: Stellarvue SFFX1

Mount: Paramount MYT

Camera: MallinCam DS26M Tec

Filters: Chroma filters 5nm 36mm

Software: PixInsight, Voyager Automation

Location: In my backyard

References:

M8 and M20 - The Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae. (n.d.). Copyright: Richard Powell. http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/nebulae/m08m20.html

Messier 8 (The Lagoon Nebula) - NASA Science. (n.d.). https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-messier-catalog/messier-8/

Wikipedia contributors. (2024, July 22). Lagoon Nebula. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagoon_Nebula