M18, M24, NGC6603, IC 4701, Barnard 93, Barnard 92

Here is the first fruits of the first Utah mountain imaging session. I drove up Provo Canyon about a half mile to the Squaw Peak Road, and up that road about 8 or so miles. About halfway between Hope and Rock Canyon campgrounds, there is a small clearing and camping area. I set up there and waited for the 30% waxing crescent of a moon to stop casting shadows. It was dark, but glow from Orem-Provo lit up the lower part of the western sky. Still, it was a much better sky than I am used to, even a bit better overhead and in the west than the sky at the Huntsville observatory.

Besides the two Messier objects and the two Barnard dark nebulae, the image contains two open clusters, NGC 6603, just to the left of the Barnard objects, and IC 4701, a large open cluster to the right of M18. There are others objects in the image as well, but these were my targets. Here is a closeup of the Barnards:

And here is another of M18:


This image is 64x60' with the Canon XTi through the AT66ED with the WO 0.8 focal reducer (320mm focal length), unguided on the Vixen GP.