Target: M8 (NGC 6523, Lagoon Nebula, emission nebula in Sagittarius, apparent diameter 90.0 arcmin, magnitude 5.8) <br /> <br /> Distance from Earth:  5200 light-years<br /> <br /> Date/Time: 07/22/07, 0215 EDT to 0255 EDT<br /> <br /> Mount: Takahashi NJP Temma II<br /> <br /> Telescope:  TOA-130 with Tak reducer (FL=780mm, f/6.0) and Hutech LPS filter<br /> <br /> Camera: Starlight Xpress SXVF-M25C ccd guided by SBIG STV with Takahashi FS-60C w/ Optec 0.62x reducer (f/3.7)<br /> <br /> Focus: VSE Epsilon MicroGlide focuser with RoboFocus motor and AstroArt 4.0 autofocus plug-in<br /> <br /> Sky conditions:  transparency 4/5, seeing 2/5, estimated FWHM 4.8, wind 6-11mph, humidity 55-60%, temp (O/I) 58.6/57.4F at beginning and 53.4/55.4F at conclusion<br /> <br /> Moon:  0.481 illuminated, mag -9.7, 7.6 days old, 0.21 days before 1st quarter; Moon was below horizon for imaging<br /> <br /> Images:  Captured with AstroArt 4.0 at an image scale of 2.06 arcsec/pixel; 10, 240 sec light frames were captured; no flat or dark frames; 5 light frames were used during processing<br /> <br /> Processing:  AstroArt 4.0, ImagesPlus 3 beta 5, MaxIm DL, RegiStar 1.0 and Photoshop CS 8.0 with GradientXTerminator and Noise Ninja; image cropped (08/09/07)
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