M-8 The Lagoon Nebula

This image was taken on April 9, 1989, 11:09 UT by Mike O'Neal using gas-hypered 4415 film exposed for 30 minutes with the 0.76-m f/6 reflector.

M-16 The Pillars of Creation

An area of the "Star Queen" cluster/nebula made famous by the image from the Hubble Space Telescope. These pillars of dust and gas are being blown away by the very hot, luminous young stars embedded in the cloud from which they were born. Steve Brewster, 4x 5-minutes exposures added together, 0.76-m f/6 reflector + ST6.

M-42 "Trapezium" area

There are about 300 faint stars in the region near the "Trapezium" cluster (upper right). The bright star near the center of the image is Theta-2 Orionis and harbors an unseen X-ray source called 2U0525-06 - a possible "black hole." An interesting 3-D effect occurs because of dark clouds of dust and gas that obscure the more distant stars and brightly glowing gas of the Orion Nebula.