The Lagoon Nebula shows its central dark lane of obscuring dust, appearing like a lagoon when examined visually through a telescope.  Other more dark areas within the Lagoon Nebula are collapsing protostellar clouds called Bok Globules.  The brightest region in the nebula, called the hourglass nebula, is illuminated by two super-giant stars.  The rest of the nebula is energized by the young open cluster NGC 6530 emerging in the other side of the dark "lagoon".  The center of the nebula has a magenta tone because the dust reflects some of the light from the bright stars, combining blue reflection with the red emission.  The Lagoon Nebula is located 4310 light years from Earth,  but is visible to the naked eye from a dark sky location. 

IMAGE DETAILS:

• Date & Location:  July 11, 2010  - Bernville, PA

• Weather:  Calm, 61F.

• Sky Conditions:  Clear with average transparency. 

• Optics:  TeleVue NP101is Refractor with 0.8x TeleVue Reducer = 432mm @ f4.3

• Filter:  Astronomic  EOS clip-in CLS-CCD (Light Pollution Suppression)

• Mount:  Losmandy G-11 equatorial with Gemini V4

• Guiding:  Orion Solitaire w/TeleVue TV60is

• Camera:  Canon T1i (500D) Hap Griffin Modified - Baader UV/IR

• Exposure:  35 min (2 x 5 min, 3 x 6min, 1 x 7min) @ ISO 800 RAW

• Calibration Frames:  In Camera Dark Noise Reduction

• Processing:  Photoshop CS4, Noise Ninja, NIK, Noel Carboni Astronomy Tools

• Comments:  Overall pleased with this image, but would like to photograph from a darker site to bring out fainter details.