Located close together in the constellation Sagittarius, these three nebulae are prominent star-forming regions situated about 4,000 to 5,000 light-years away within the Milky Way's Carina–Sagittarius Arm.
M8 (Lagoon Nebula): A colossal emission nebula and stellar nursery spanning ~110 light-years across. It is visible to the naked eye under dark skies and famous for its central "Hourglass Nebula" core, intense ultraviolet radiation from hot young stars (like Herschel 36), and a distinct dark dust lane resembling a lagoon.
M20 (Trifid Nebula): Located just north of M8, it is renowned for its three-part visual structure. It is a rare combination of three nebula types: a glowing red emission nebula trisected by dark dust lanes, a cool blue reflection nebula wrapped around its northern edge, and the dense dark obscuring lanes (Barnard 85) that carve it into lobes.
IC 4685: A fainter, complex complex of emission and blue reflection nebulae situated just east/northeast of the Lagoon Nebula. It is often captured in widefield astrophotography as the misty backdrop to the young open cluster Collinder 359, threaded with intricate dark dust tendrils.
Image Details:
- Imaging Scope: William Optics 61mm ZenithStar APO
- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Color with ZWO DuoBand filter
- Guiding Equipment: Celestron Starsense Autoguider
- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap
- Guiding Software: Celestron
- Light Frames: 25*6 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -15C
- Dark Frames: 10*6 mins
- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
- Processed in PixInsight (incl. Star Removal using Starnet2), Adobe Lightroom and Topaz Denoise
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