The Trifid Nebula (M20) in Sagittarius is one of the most photographed objects in the sky, yet this was my first proper attempt at it. It was also the first target I pointed my telescope at after moving it to its new remote home at Nebula Nest Remote Observatories in Antwerp, Victoria, put together by the team at AstroWorks, so it doubled as a test shoot to calibrate the setup.
What makes this target so beautiful is the combination of glowing emission and the blue reflection nebula surrounding it, with dark dust lanes cutting through the middle. Dust, reflection and emission all sit together in one field.
Processing
I shot through all the filters and tried several colour combinations. I would normally map sulphur to yellow and keep the rest looking natural, but that simply did not work here. Instead, I blended the SII slightly into the red and blue channels to highlight its contribution around the outer edge of the Trifid. The goal was to use narrowband only to enhance the LRGB, so the result stays close to a natural colour image.
It is a very easy target to overdo with saturation, so I tried to keep the colours and fine detail as natural as possible. The field of view suits it perfectly: close enough to zoom in and pixel peep, while still showing what surrounds the nebula.
Equipment
Captured with my own remote rig at Nebula Nest Remote Observatories in Antwerp, Victoria, under Bortle 1 skies.
Telescope: Askar 107PHQ
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM Pro
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro
Filters: Antlia 3nm H-alpha, OIII and SII; Antlia Pro LRGB
Explore the full-resolution image and acquisition details on AstroBin.
