From the epic 2018 trip down to the dark skies of the Mexican border with the Finn in Rocinante, The Indomitable Camper. Was looking over my work in album and said "Hey, I know how to process that a lot better now".

These are the Trifid (top) and Lagoon Nebulae, M20 and M8 respectively. The Trifid combines a star cluster, a hydrogen emission nebula (red), a reflection nebula (blue), plus dark nebulosity forming the lines.

The Lagoon Nebula is mostly hydrogen emission, though you can find a little blue reflection in there too. You can see the pillars often associated with active star-forming regions.

This was shot with my Pentax DSLR body on my little Stellarvue refractor in Cottonwood Campground in Big Bend National Park. I thought I'd seen dark skies, but that place was incredible.

28 3-minute exposures, ISO 800.