M8 is an enormous region of gas, dust, and star formation. Is thought to be about 140 light-years across and about 5,200 light-years distant. It can be found in the constellation Sagittarius, and is faintly visible to the naked eye from a dark site.
Note some very red stars in this image, for example within a wisp of nebulosity to the right of center.
• Date: July 2,
2003
• Exposure: 60 minutes
• Telescope: 10" LX-200 f/10
• Guiding: SBIG STV
• Camera: Olympus OM-1
• Film: Kodak Supra 400 (not hypered)
• Scanned: Hewlett Packard S20
• Processing: Adjusted curves in Adobe Photoshop 6. Noise reduction using SGBNR.
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