Trifid Nebula M20

Summer is here and there are lots of exciting objects to look at in our night sky.  One of my favorite is the Sagittarius area of the Milky Way galaxy.  When you are in a dark area this is an awesome site as you can see the Milky Way galaxy arc across the sky.  As you get close to the Southern Horizon their is a tea pot shape of stars and a bright milky white area.  This area is the center of our galaxy.  There are several globular clusters to look at, M22 being the largest of them.  Just to the right of the milky glow are 4 spectacular Nebulae in the Serpens Claudia constellation.  These are M16 the Eagle Nebula, M17 the Omega or Swan Nebula, M20 the Trifid Nebula, and M8 the Lagoon Nebula.  These objects can be seen with binoculars and small telescopes.  Last summer I caught the Eagle Nebula.  This year I captured the Trifid Nebula.

In this picture of the Trifid Nebula I capture 60 3 minute frames at unity gain of 96 with ASI071MC cooled color camera.  Pictures will calibrated with bias, dark, and flat frames.  The picture was calibrated and processed in Pixinsight.