M8

The well-known Lagoon nebula in Sagittarius, a huge (more than 100 light years diameter) hydrogen cloud that is forming new stars.   At a distance of about 5,000 light years, the nebula can just be glimpsed with the naked eye. 

Taken August 7, 2005, using the 402 camera and the 300mm Nikkor lens.   Exposure is 10 minutes through each of the red, green, and blue filters, using track and accumulate of 10 separate 1-minute images stacked automatically by the software.

Taken July 24, 2001.   This is the first picture taken through the C-14 with auto tracking, using the 237 camera attached to the Nikkor 300mm lens on the piggyback mount.  The exposure is 5 minutes with Fuji 200 film, using the C-14 at F:7.   The vignetting is due to the focal reducer between the camera and the telescope.   I centered on the star cluster just left of the nebula to more accurately judge the success of the tracking.