Mermaid Waters - M8 Detail

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Mermaid Waters - M8 Detail

[Public Domain] 4 Aug 2020 Dylan O'Donnell
CATEGORY : Astrophotography
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I was doing some test shots under the nearly full moon so didn’t expect this to look like much but I can’t stop looking at it. The detail is from the wider M8 Lagoon nebula but I focussed in with my big telescope (C11) on the little mermaid feature which is surrounded by at least a dozen bok globules I’ve never seen before. Normally I’d shoot the lagoon quite wide because the whole area is quite stunning but the dark dust clouds, blue reflection nebula, spires, globules, and cascading tiered emission clouds are all really quite spectacular to see all together. It almost looks like a Japanese painting.

Celestron 11″ Edge HD
0.7 X reducer (F7)
22 x 180s / ZWO 1600mm
Colour data from 2019 (QHY12 CCD)

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