M8 - The Lagoon Nebula in Hydrogen-Alpha light
Copyright 2008 Hap Griffin
The
nebula gets its name from the fact that the main cloud is bi-sected by a dark
region in its middle resembling a lagoon on an island. The young open star
cluster NGC 6530, here seen to the left of the "lagoon" was formed
from the gas and dust comprising the nebula. The
numerous dark knots
in the nebula are
areas where the hydrogen cloud is collapsing on itself in the process of forming
new stars. These knots of denser gas are known as Bok Globules. It
is thought that our sun and solar system formed nearly 5 billion years ago out
of such a cloud.
This image was taken through a narrowband Baader hydrogen-alpha filter.
Hydrogen gas, when excited by radiation to the point where it emits its own glow
emits a deep red light at a wavelength of 656.3 nano-meters. The filter used
here passes only that wavelength and a very narrow window of wavelengths on
either side...thus it is essentially a single color image and reproduced here as
shades of gray. One advantage to shooting these emission nebulae through
such a filter is that increased detail can be seen that is sometimes lost in the
maze of colors in a full color image. Another advantage is that such
photographs can be taken in full moonlight that would spoil a full-color
image. This was captured with an almost full moon high in the
sky..
M8 lies at a distance of approximately 5200 light-years.
Date/Location:
April 16, 2008 Griffin-Hunter Observatory near Bethune, SC
Instrument: Canon 40D Digital SLR (modified) through
Orion 10" Newtonian w/ Baader MPCC
Focal Ratio: F/4.7
Guiding: Auto via SBIG ST-402 through Orion ED80 refractor
Conditions: Clear and cool
Weather: 29 F
Exposure: 100 minutes total (20 x 5 minutes @ ISO 800)
Filters: Baader 7 nm HA filter, Baader UV/IR block filter
internal to camera
Processing: De-bayering, calibration, selection of red channel
data, alignment, stacking, Digital Development, Richarson-Lucy Deconvolution in
ImagesPlus 3.0 . Finished in Photoshop CS3.