From M 23 to the Sagittarius Star Cloud

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About this Image

The wide view image is centered on the bright Lagoon Nebula (M 8) in Sagittarius, accompanied by the bicolored Trifid Nebula M 20. To the top left there is the open cluster M23. On the opposite side a part of the huge Sagittarius star cloud shows up. The distance to emission nebulae is approx. 5200 light years.
A closeup on the nebulae you find here.
North is left.


Technical Details
Optics

Canon 200mm f/2.8 at f/2.8

Mount AP-400 GEM
Camera SBIG STL-11000M at -20C, internal filter wheel
Filters Astronmik RGB
Date Aug 14, 2004.
Location Hakos/Namibia
Sky Conditions mag 6.5, high transparency, temperature 14 C,
Exposure RGB= 10:10:10 min (5-minute sub-exposures).
Processing Image aquisition in Maxim DL 4.0; Image calibration, DDP and color synthesis in ImagesPlus;
Photoshop: curves, color balance,