A telescopic tour of the constellation Sagittarius [
http://www.seds.org…sagittarius.html ] offers the many bright clusters and nebulae of dimensioned space [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] in a starscape [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] surrounding the galactic center [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. This gorgeous color deep-sky photograph [
http://members.home…] visits two such lovely sights, cataloged by the 18th century cosmic tourist Charles Messier [
http://www.seds.org…] as M8 and M20. M20 (upper left), the Trifid Nebula [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…], presents a striking contrast in red/blue colors and dark dust lanes. Just below and to the right is the expansive, alluring red glow of M8, the Lagoon Nebula [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Both nebulae are a few thousand light-years distant but at the far right, the dominant celestial beacon is a "local" source, the planet Mars [
http://www.seds.org…]. Just passing through Sagittarius and strongly overexposed in this picture, the Red Planet [
http://mars.jpl.nas…] is a short 4 light-minutes away. Now near its closest approach [
http://www.skypub.c…] to planet Earth since 1988, Mars rises around sunset and can be seen [
http://members.nbci…] for most of the night shining [
http://cfa-www.harv…] brightly at about -2.3 magnitude [
http://csep10.phys.…magnitudes.html ]. Urban imager [
http://members.home…] Michael Cole recorded this photograph at 3:00 AM on May 20th in clear skies over Camp Hancock, Oregon, USA.
Explanation
A telescopic tour of the constellation Sagittarius [
http://www.seds.org…sagittarius.html ] offers the many bright clusters and nebulae of dimensioned space [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] in a starscape [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] surrounding the galactic center [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. This gorgeous color deep-sky photograph [
http://members.home…] visits two such lovely sights, cataloged by the 18th century cosmic tourist Charles Messier [
http://www.seds.org…] as M8 and M20. M20 (upper left), the Trifid Nebula [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…], presents a striking contrast in red/blue colors and dark dust lanes. Just below and to the right is the expansive, alluring red glow of M8, the Lagoon Nebula [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Both nebulae are a few thousand light-years distant but at the far right, the dominant celestial beacon is a "local" source, the planet Mars [
http://www.seds.org…]. Just passing through Sagittarius and strongly overexposed in this picture, the Red Planet [
http://mars.jpl.nas…] is a short 4 light-minutes away. Now near its closest approach [
http://www.skypub.c…] to planet Earth since 1988, Mars rises around sunset and can be seen [
http://members.nbci…] for most of the night shining [
http://cfa-www.harv…] brightly at about -2.3 magnitude [
http://csep10.phys.…magnitudes.html ]. Urban imager [
http://members.home…] Michael Cole recorded this photograph at 3:00 AM on May 20th in clear skies over Camp Hancock, Oregon, USA.
Explanation
