A telescopic tour of the constellation Sagittarius [
http://www.hawastso…] 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://home.earthli…] 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…] was a short 4 light-minutes away. Now headed [
http://www.lpl.ariz…] for its closest approach [
http://skyandtelesc…article_985_1.asp ] to planet Earth in recorded history, Mars rises in the east southeast by midnight shining brightly at about -1.4 magnitude [
http://csep10.phys.…magnitudes.html ]. Urban imager [
http://home.earthli…] Michael Cole recorded this photograph at 3:00 AM on May 20th, 2001 in clear skies over Camp Hancock, Oregon, USA.
Explanation
A telescopic tour of the constellation Sagittarius [
http://www.hawastso…] 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://home.earthli…] 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…] was a short 4 light-minutes away. Now headed [
http://www.lpl.ariz…] for its closest approach [
http://skyandtelesc…article_985_1.asp ] to planet Earth in recorded history, Mars rises in the east southeast by midnight shining brightly at about -1.4 magnitude [
http://csep10.phys.…magnitudes.html ]. Urban imager [
http://home.earthli…] Michael Cole recorded this photograph at 3:00 AM on May 20th, 2001 in clear skies over Camp Hancock, Oregon, USA.
Explanation
