Lagoon Nebula (M8), Trifid Nebula (M20), Star Cloud (M24), Swan Nebula (M17), Eagle Nebula (M16)
Sagittarius Area Pictures

Copyright © 2004, 2007, 2012, Dick Locke.  All Rights Reserved.  Contact and Image Use Information

Summer Milky Way Objects.  See this page for the deep southern milky way!


Little Star Cloud Area: Southern Milky Way Near Sagittarius

The "Little Star Cloud" (M24) is shown in the center of this image. Several red emission nebulae are shown, including the lagoon, trifid, swan, and eagle from left to right. Numerous Messier objects are in the frame.  Open cluster M23 is shown in the bottom middle and M25 is in the top middle.  Globular Clusters M22 and M28 are at the top left and top-mid left.  Open cluster M18 is between the star cloud and swan nebula.  The left center part of the frame in this Sagittarius area summer milky way shot is looks toward the center of our galaxy. Plenty of relatively close stars show distinctly, while billions of distant stars blend together to form the "milk." Intervening dusty areas create the numerous dark nebula. The dark circular area with a star in the middle is Barnard dark nebula 92 (B92) dubbed the Black Hole. Details: First "star" light images with the Canon 85mm f1.8 lens.  Exposure info: 17 * 4 minute (68 minutes total exposure) from the modified Canon 20Da camera and Canon 85mm f1.8 lens operating at f5.6. The lens is definitely a keeper!  Shot at the Starry Nights B&B in Wimberley, TX, 9/7/2012.  Skies were not optimal and I've done my best to deal with a bit of San Antonio light pollution and color gradients; temperature was around 84 degrees.  No guiding and no flats; camera piggybacked to AP 900 mount.  A Visual Index to all many of these cool objects is here.
 

There's also an Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) showing object identification in this area here.

 


Star Cloud and Swan Nebula - Black Hole

Here's a close-up of the M24 Star Cloud area, featuring the black hole.  Same base image as above.

Trifid (M20) nebula through the Star Cloud M24 in Sagittarius

Above: Check out the dark nebula  (Barnard 92, B92) on the right edge of the picture; looks like a black hole with a single star in it.  2012 update, I see this is definitely called the Black Hole by "The SkyX Pro."

 

M24, The Star Cloud in Sagittarius (plus B92 and B93)

Above 2 images: prime focus image 5/17/2004 in tough conditions.  Transparency went from good to fair during this 25 minute exposure with the Tak FS102 telescope.  Dark Nebula Barnard 92 (B92) is the the circular area left of center, and left of that is B93.  I think the open cluster left center is NGC 6603.  B307 is left of and a tad below B92/93.  ON the bottom center right, the red nebula is IC1283, and the two blue nebulae are NGC6589 and 90 (barely seen).  Comparing and contrasting, the top image has a wider field of view; it used a 300mm lens vs. the 610mm focal length of the Tak/focal reducer.  The images are "reversed" from each other, as well.  The bottom image reflects the orientation in the Sky Atlas.


A close look at the dark nebula from the top picture.

Below is a DSLR picture that takes a closer look at Barnard 92 and 93.


 Barnard 93 (top) and Barnard 92 (bottom), along with M24 (upper left)

Image above composed of 20x4 minute = 80 minutes total exposure over 2 nights, ISO 800 & 1600.  Canon EOS 20Da (unmodified), Takahashi TOA 130 (a 5" APO refractor) with flattener, and Astro-Physics AP 900GTO mount.   Davis Mountains, TX.

B 93 looks like a jellyfish to me, and B 92 like a crab...

Check out my Dark Nebula page for more cool Barnard objects.

More Barnard Info: B93 and B92

Film Photo (Top picture): Davis Mountains, TX, May 17, 2004
Nikon F2 camera, Nikon 300mm f2.8  ED Lens @f2.8,
Kodak PJ 400 film,
25 minute exposure, STV auto guider, Losmandy GM-11,
 
Negative Scan, Nikon Coolscan IV ED, Processed in Photoshop


Check out: Trifid and M8 - includes area object links

Northern Sagittarius, 135 mm (old film shot)

A Visual Index to all the cool objects around M8 and M20 is here

Wide Angle Astro Photos


Pipe Nebula


Astronomy Pictures: Dick Locke's Astrophoto Gateway page....

Copyright ©  Dick Locke.  All Rights Reserved.
Contact and Image Use Information

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