It was a comfortable 10c with almost no wind, no bugs, and easily managed dew. I only imaged the Lagoon & Trifid Nebulae – but did some visual observing of the region afterward – what a rich area of sky – on low power you can starcluster hop all along the Milkyway (which was very clear up here). The weather for tonight is supposed to even be better than last.

My focus was off a little but the image still turned out reasonably good – especially when reduced. The Trifid is the blue and red smaller nebula on the top – the Lagoon is the big one on the bottom. A larger version is now on my website www.ArtisticDigitalScenery.com. I think I may try again tonight with my laptop connected for focusing and my LPR filter for contrast.

UPDATE: I’ve rotated the image as it would appear in the sky.

Imaged using Canon Digital Rebel XTi mounted prime focus on Celestron 80mm Onyx APO

3 x 5 minutes and 1 x 10 minutes – manually guided – stacked in Registax – colour balanced in Corel PhotoPaint – final clean up with NeatImage. Seeing was very steady and clear.

I did not use my LPR filter for this shot – light pollution was cleaned up digitally during colour balancing.