The Trifid Nebula (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region located in Sagittarius.  Its name means 'divided into three lobes'. The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars, an emission nebula (the lower, red portion), a reflection nebula (the upper, blue portion) and a dark nebula.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_20

 

ABOUT THE IMAGE

DATE/TIME:  The early mornings of June 7th and 8th, 2011.

CAMERA:  Canon XSI, 450D modified

TELESCOPE:  Orion 100ED @ F/9

ISO SETTING:  800

EXPOSURES:  29

EXPOSURE LENGTH:  300sec.

TOTAL EXPOSURE LENGTH:  3hrs 15min.

SUBTRACTIONS: 10 dark frames and 10 bias frames.

CAPTURE: MaximDL

STACKING/PRE-PROCESSING: Deep Sky Stacker

PROCESSING: Photoshop CS3