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M20, the Trifid Nebula, is named for its lobed appearance
due to the three most prominent dark lanes of dust which divide it. "Trifid" is pronounced as "try-fid". It's from
the Latin word trifidus, which means split into three. This object is quite photogenic, but my luck
in imaging this nebula has been bad. My first try was grossly underexposed. My second try with the LX200 appears
at the bottom. The Trifid was already past the meridian when I began capturing images. Two captures were ruined
by gusts and one by skyglow as the object got too low in the southwest sky. My first try with the Tak appears above
that. Dropping temperatures caused the scope to lose focus due to thermal expansion, and the clouds ruined 5 of 20 shots.
At the top I replaced the luminance with a mono shot with a modern CCD camera, but the camera wasn't square. Luckily
the object was nowhere near the edges where the stars aren't round. It's a very odd combination, a state of the art
luminance but with obsolete color technology (0.44 Megapixels).
You can see the unusual combination of a bright red emission
nebula surrounded by a fainter blue reflection nebula (especially to the north). My LPR filters blocked some
of the blue however. The distance and size of this nebula
seems to be in dispute.
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Trifid Nebula M20
(Click image
to enlarge)
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Object Details:
Type:
Emission nebula
Constellation: Sagittarius
Distance: 2000-9000 light-years
Size: Uncertain
Upper Image Details:
Middle Image w/ New Luminance
Date: May
05, 2013
Site: Harahan, LA
Exposure: CCD, 25 x 3 min.
Filters: IDAS LPS V4 48mm
Processing:
MSB Astroart 3.0/5.0
Telescope: 4" Tak FSQ-106N
Reducer: None (f/5.0)
Image CCD:
SX SXVR-H694 Mono
Guide CCD: SX MX7C (1.88x Barlow)
Guide
Scope: AT66ED, ScopeStuff TBSX
Middle Image Details:
Date: June 05, 2005
Site:
Harahan, LA
Conditions: Between Clouds
Exposure:
CCD, 15 x 5 min.
Filters: Orion SkyGlow LPR
Processing: MSB Astroart 3.0
Telescope:
4" Tak FSQ-106N
Reducer: None (f/5.0)
CCD: Starlight Express MX7C
Autoguider: S.T.A.R.
Date: August 7, 2004
Site: Harahan, LA
Exposure: CCD, 6 x 5 min.
Filters:
Orion SkyGlow LPR
Processing: MSB Astroart 3.0
Telescope: 10" Meade LX200
Reducer:
Meade, f/4.3
CCD: Starlight Express MX7C
Autoguider:
S.T.A.R. 2000
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