M8
Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius

10.1″ f/4.5, Mallincam DS432cTEC with Astronomik UHC filter
Exposure = 5-7.5 sec, Live Stacked frames = 20-20 (40 total), Gain = 50 of 250

M8 is a giant H II emission nebula in the Milky Way, about 4000 light years away. Despite lying low in my Bortle 8 skies it still appears quite spectacular. The dark rift separating the bright core of the nebula from the open cluster (NGC 6530) at bottom-left is visible in the eyepiece. Fainter extensions of the nebula reach well toward the left-side of this view and spill over the field of view. The bright star at top-right is 7-Sagittarii, a massive star visible to the naked eye (magnitude 5.37).

North at 11 o’clock, East at 8 o’clock
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