The Lagoon & Trifid Nebula Region

NOTES DATE: Thursday, May 9, 2002 FILM: Kodak LE400 EXPOSURE: 20 minutes LOCATION: Texas Star Party (Prude Ranch near Fort Davis, Texas) INSTRUMENT: 135 mm lens @ f/4 piggybacked on 10" LX200. PROCESSING: Negative scanned with Epson Perfection 3200.  Further enhancements made with Adobe Photoshop 7.0 COMMENTS: The Lagoon Nebula (M8) is a star-forming region located approximately 3900 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. It measures 60' x 35'; easily making it larger than the Full Moon.  The Trifid Nebula (M20) is slightly closer (3300 light-years) than the Lagoon.  The Trifid is composed of three different type of nebulae; emission, reflection, and dark.  Several other Messier and NGC objects (mostly open clusters) are also visible in this photograph.