The Trifid Nebula (M20)

Sitting right next to the Lagoon Nebula Messier 8, is the stunning Trifid nebula. Normally shot together with wider field setups, I took the opportunity to get up close and personal with this target, and captured it under the darkest skies possible, bortle class 1. Not only was I in a dark sky preserve location for this target, but I was also over 2,000 feet higher in elevation from where I normally image my targets from, giving me that much less atmosphere to image through. I did however have the Canada wild fire smoke to deal with, but most of the nights the conditions were good enough to get this fantastic data. A little information about this nebula, it is over 9,000 light years away in the Sagittarius constellation. It is a star forming region and was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764, making it Messier 20. This image was completed on August 1st 2024.