Trifid & Lagoon Nebulas – M8 and M20

This is a 2×1 mosaic I made of Ha and Oiii data using a Hyperstar system captured at fast f/1.9.  Trifid is the upper nebula which offers an interesting Oxygen bubble in blue and is known as M20.  Lagoon is the larger nebula known as Messier 8 and is a very bright nebula.  These nebula sit in the milky-way and Sagittarius region, discovered back in 1764.

They are estimated at around 4000-5000 light years away.  The Lagoon is considered an emissions nebula.  Trifid is also an emission nebula, but the blue region is considered a reflection nebula  with really neat dark nebula forming the gaps in between.

Reflection nebula are exactly that, they reflect clouds of interstellar dust from nearby stars.  They tend to be blue because they are too weak to ionize and the blue is more efficient than red at scattering.  Just like our skies they turn blue.