NGC6357 SHO F6 24 May -21 June 2020

NGC 6357 is about 5500 light years away in the constellation Scorpius near the better known NGC 6334, AKA the "Cat's Paw" or "Bear Paw" nebula. This nebula was also given the name War and Peace Nebula because of its appearance in infrared images, the bright western part resembles a dove and the eastern part looks like a skull. This photo was taken through a Celestron C8 8" SCT at f6.3 (1280mm focal length), tracked on the CGEM and exposed using a full spectrum modded and cooled Canon 40D DSLR. Total exposure time through the SII, HAlpha and OIII filters was 40 hours.