M8 The Lagoon Nebula in Narrowband Color

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The Details
Object	M8 The Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius
Optics	Astro-Physics 160 EDF Refractor at f/5.7
Platform	Astro-Physics 1200 GTO
Camera	SBIG ST-10XME
Filters	Tru-Balance 5nm H-alpha and 3nm OIII filters
Date	17, 18, 23, 25 August 2011
Location	Mount Wilson Observatory - Mount Wilson, CA
Exposure	Ha 8 x 1200 sec 1x1 bin; OIII 10 x 1200 sec 1 x 1 bin; SII 15 x 1200 sec 1x1 bin - Total exposure time 11 hours
Software	Maxim DL/CCD, CCDStack 2, Photoshop CS5
Orientation	Field of View: 46’20" x 34’09" centered on RA 18h04m03.1s DEC -24°17’50” (2000.0). North angle 10.03°; east 90° CCW from north
Notes	M8, The Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius, shows exquisite detail when imaged through narrowband filters. This "false color" image was created using a tricolor technique by assigning SII to the red channel, H-alpha to the Green channel, and OIII to the blue channel. A top luminance layer taken from the SII data was used to complete the image.