M8 & M20 in Sagittarius

Seestar S30 Pro, 30mm f/5.3, 824 x 10s = 1h17m20s. 2026 Jun 18-19 & 20-21

Testing the limits: M8 and M20 from 55 degrees N

At my latitude M8 (the Lagoon nebula) never gets higher than 10.6 degrees above the horizon. When it reaches maximum altitude, at this time of year, we have very little darkness. Astronomical twilight does not end here until August. So exposure time is very limited. I set a Seestar plan from 11:30 to 2:30 (British Summer Time: midnight is 1am). Two nights worth are stacked together here.

To see over the boundary of my garden this was done from an upstairs window, through the glass. And that meant it could not be in EQ mode because I could not see the zenith to do the alignment. So exposures were only 10s. Many frames were rejected due to bands of cloud but 824 useable ones are stacked here (DSO in the S30 Pro).

I am on the northern edge of the Tyneside conurbation so the scope was looking across 10 miles of built-up area, Bortle 6. This demonstrates that the Seestar's light pollution filter is very effective. The widths of the H-alpha and OIII bands are well chosen.

The only processing I have done is brightness/contrast adjustment and crop in Affinity Photo.