M8 - The Lagoon Nebula

The Lagoon Nebula (catalogued as Messier 8 or M8) is a giant interstellar cloud and emission nebula in the constellation Sagittarius.  It is estimated to be between 4,000-6,000 light-years from Earth.  The region is filled with winds from stars, funnels of gas, and star formation, all embedded within a haze of gas and dust. The nebula contains several Bok globules (dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material) and contains a structure known as the Hourglass Nebula (named by the astronomer John Herschel) at its centre.

The image was captured remotely from the iTelescope.Net observatory at Siding Spring, near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia.

Right ascension: 18h 03m 56.60 | Declination: -24° 17' 47.6" | Distance: 6,000 Light Years
Field of view: 55.9 x 55.9 arcmin

Camera: FLI-PL09000
Telescope: Planewave 20" (0.51m) CDK
Guiding: Active Guiding Disabled
Mount: Planewave Ascension 200HR
Filters: Astrodon 5nm Ha, SII, OIII
Exposures: Ha 21 x 10 min, SII 18 x 10 min, OIII 18 x 10 min
Total exposure: 9.5 hours
Scale: 1.1 arc-secs/pixel
Image acquired: 6 nights in August 2017

Image capture with the iTelescope ACP platform; Image processed with MaxIm DL; Photoshop CC 19.1.4

Leo triplet of galaxies

The Leo Triplet is a small group of galaxies about 35 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo. This galaxy group consists of the spiral galaxies M65, the M66, and the NGC 3628 (‘The Hamburger’). Image acquired and processed with help of Olly Penrice at Les Granges Astronomy Holidays, SE France.

Right ascension: 11h 19m 44s | Declination: +13° 19' 10" | Distance: 35m Light Years
Field of view: 53 x 53 arcmin

Camera: Atik 4000 Mono (Kodak KAI 04022)
Telescope: TEC APO140ED F/7
Filters: Baader LRGB
Exposures: Lum 30 x 15 min; Red 11 x 10 min; Green 8 x 10min; Blue 15 x 10min
Total exposure: 13 hours
Image composition: LRGB
Scale: 1.56 arcsec/pixel
Image acquired: March 2012 from Les Granges, SE France.

Image capture with Artemis Capture; Image processed with Registar, AstroArt 5.0 and Photoshop CS3