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The Lagoon Nebula (M8) imaged in SHO
The Lagoon Nebula (M8) imaged in SHO

Image by Martin Heigan

The Lagoon Nebula (M8, Messier 8 or NGC 6523), is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius. M8 is estimated to be between 4000 - 6000 light-years from Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy, and is classified as an emission nebula.

About this image:
Imaged in the wavelengths of Hydrogen-Alpha, Sulphur II and Oxygen III over a few nights (due to poor Astronomical seeing conditions, as a result of a very strong jet stream).

About Emission nebulae:
Emission nebulae are glowing clouds of interstellar gas which have been excited by some nearby energy source, usually a very hot star. The red light seen in this picture is glowing hydrogen captured in the Hydrogen-Alpha (Hα) Infrared wavelength of light at 656nm.

Gear:
William Optics Star 71mm f/4.9 Imaging APO Refractor Telescope.
William Optics 50mm Finder Scope.
Garmin SkySync GPS Accessory.
Orion Mini 50mm Guide Scope.
Orion StarShoot Autoguider.
Celestron AVX Mount.
QHYCCD PoleMaster.
Celestron StarSense.
RoboFocus RF3 Focuser.
Optolong 7.5 & 7nm SHO Narrowband filters
QHYCFW2-M-US Filterwheel (7 position x 36mm).
QHY163M Cooled CMOS Monochrome Astronomy Camera.

Tech:
Guiding in Open PHD 2.6.3.
Image acquisition in Sequence Generator Pro.

Lights/Subs:
2 Stage CMOS Cooling
Imaged at -25°C
QHY Censor Sensitivity:
Gain: 120
Offset: 35

Narrowband:
S = 32 x 300 sec. 16bit FITS.
H = 38 x 300 sec. 16bit FITS.
O = 38 x 300 sec. 16bit FITS.

Acquisition time:
9 hours of SHO data.

Calibration Frames:
50 x Bias/Offset.
25 x Darks.
20 x Flats & Dark Flats.

Image Acquisition:
Sequence Generator Pro with the Mosaic and Framing Wizard.

Plate Solving:
Astrometry.net ANSVR Solver via SGP.

Processing:
Pre-Processing and Linear workflow in PixInsight,
and finished in Photoshop.

Photographed in the following wavelengths of light:
Optolong SHO Narrowband filters:
OIII line 500.7nm (6.5nm bandwidth)
H-alpha line 656nm (7nm bandwidth)
SII line 672nm (6.5nm bandwidth)

PixelMath Channel combination expression:
R = (0.5*SII)+(0.5*Ha)
G = (0.2*Ha)+(0.8*OIII)
B = OIII
Additional Ha+SII Layering in Photoshop.

Astrometry Info:
RA, Dec center: 271.075576212, -24.3734034782 degrees,
Orientation: 1.18536473805 deg E of N

Sky Conditions:
Unihedron Sky Quality Meter:
SQM-L Value: 19.17
Temperature: 11°C - 16°C

Meteoblue Astronomical Seeing:
Mostly Clear Skies
Relative Humidity = 54% - 65%
Seeing:
Arc Sec = 5
Index 1 = 5
Index 2 = 4
Jet Stream = 45-55 m/s (high)
Moon Phase: Waxing Crescent - Maximum 38%

Martin
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Taken on: April 22, 2018
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The Lagoon Nebula (M8) imaged in SHO

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