Madre Pearla

Astronomers call this the Lagoon Nebula, a cloud of interstellar gas and dust in the constellation Sagittarius. At the center of the nebula is swirling, iridescent oxygen ringed by a dusty crest of glowing hydrogen and sulfur. To create this image I collected photographic exposure using my astrophotography equipment in Monterey, CA, as well as equipment in Brisbane, Australia and at an observatory in the Atacama Desert, Chile. In the end, all the exposures came together to help visualize the power and drama of this spectacular nebula.
 
 
25 hours total exposure of RGB (visible light), ionized hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur emissions