Summer in Sagittarius

Summer in Sagittarius

This true-color image shows a number of prominent objects and several less well-known things. If your eyeball were the size of a small apartment complex and you could stare at this region for several hours on end without blinking, this is what you might see.

Clockwise from the upper left: First we have NGC 6559, which is a star forming region that is part emission nebula (the red and pink) and part reflection nebula (the bluer parts). It's about 5,000 light years away.

To its right, we see a supernova remnant--the remains of an exploded star--designated SNR G007.5-01.7, which is between 4,000 and 6,000 light years from us. Look for the darker teal strands.

In the upper right, you can find Messier 20, the Trifid Nebula. Also about 4,000 light years from earth, the Trifid Nebula is also part emission and part reflection nebula.

In the center-bottom area, the massive emission nebula Messier 8, also called the Lagoon Nebula, churns out new stars at a prodigious rate. It's between 4,000 and 6,000 light years away and estimates put its size at 100 by 50 light years.

Finally, in the lower left corner, you can see the small globular cluster NGC 6544, which is orbiting our galaxy at a distance of around 10,000 light years.

Details: Takahashi TOA130; 10Micron GM2000; Moravian C5a-100M; Chroma filters; 29h 32' integration; Bortle 2 at Deep Sky West Remote Observatory near Santa Fe.

Copyright: Timothy Martin