Object Description: Here in this interesting complex three different types of nebulae are exhibited. An emission nebula, noted for its' bright red and pink color, caused by highly ionized hydrogen atoms; a reflection nebula, noted by it's blue color, caused by dust scattering light; and dark nebula, such as the ones forming the triple lanes inside the emission nebula. These three lanes of dust are what give this complex its' popular name, The Trifid Nebula.

Telescope: 14.2” F8 Ritchey-Chretien
Camera: Canon 40D modified w/ Baader UV-IR cut filter
Mount: ParamountME
Filters: no external filter, custom white balance on 18% gray card

Date Taken: 06JUN2008
Location: Lot4, Arcturus Way, Sacramento Mountains Astronomy Park, Weed, NM
Sky Conditions: SQM is on loan – no darkness reading, transparency 4/5, seeing 1.5 arcseconds, temp 10C
Location: Darkfire Observatory, Sacramento Mountains Astronomy Park, NM

Image Acquisition: 24x300s, iso800, using ImagesPlus3.0

Image Processing: ImagesPlus 3.5 used for bayerization, alignment, MinMaxExc combine, initial DDP. PSCS2 used for levels, curves, and sharpening. GradX for background equalization. First light of a sorts through my RC, a painful odyssey lasting 19 months. I still have many things to repair to get the scope fine-tuned.