M20, the Trifid Nebula, is named for its lobed appearance due
to the three most prominent dark lanes of dust which divide it. "Trifid" is pronounced as "try-fid". It's from
the Latin word trifidus, which means split into three. This object is quite photogenic,
but my luck in imaging this nebula has been bad. My first try was grossly underexposed. My second try with the LX200 appears below. The Trifid was already past the meridian when I began capturing images. Two
captures were ruined by gusts and one by skyglow as the object got too low in the southwest sky. My
first try with the Tak appears above. Dropping temperatures caused the scope to lose focus due to thermal expansion,
and the clouds ruined 5 of 20 shots.
You can see the unusual combination of a bright red emission
nebula surrounded by a fainter blue reflection nebula (especially to the north). My LPR filter blocked some
of the blue however. The distance and size of this nebula seems
to be in dispute.
