A mosaic of the rich region in Sagittarius and southern Serpens, from the Small Sagittarius Starcloud (Messier 24) at bottom to Messier 16, the Eagle Nebula, at top, with a fainter nebula above it around the cluster NGC 6604. At centre is the Swan or Omega Nebula, Messier 17. The dark nebula below centre is Barnard 92. The differences in the colours of the starclouds and nebulas is due to different amounts of intervening interstellar dust, with denser dust clouds absorbing more of the blues and making the objects appear redder or more yellow. This is a mosaic of two vertical segments, each segments a stack of 5 x 2-minute exposures with the 200mm lens at f/2.8 and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600. Tracked on the AP 400 mount, unguided. From Tibuc Gardens Cottage.
A mosaic of the region around the Small Sagittarius Starcloud and Dark Horse dark nebula complex. The field takes in the Milky Way from the Lagoon Nebula at bottom to the Eagle Nebula at top left. In between from top to bottom are the Swan Nebula (M17), and the Small Sagittarius Starcloud (M24). Flanking the bright M24 starcloud are the large open clusters M23 (right) and M25 (left). At bottom left is the M22 globular star cluster. The prominent dark nebula at right is the large Pipe Nebula (B78) with the small Snake Nebula (B72) above it. The whole complex is visible to the naked eye as the Dark Horse. This is a mosaic of 4 panels, each a stack of 5 x 3 minute exposures with the 135mm lens at f/2.8, and with the filter-modified Canon 5D Mark II at ISO 1600 tracking the sky on the iOptron SkyTracker, with no guidind. Images were stacked and stitched in Photoshop CC. Taken from the Four Bar Cottages near Portal Arizona, May 4/5, 2014.
