NGC 6357 - Lobster Nebula

NGC 6357 is a diffuse nebula near NGC 6334 in the constellation Scorpius. The nebula contains many proto-stars shielded by dark disks of gas, and young stars wrapped in expanding "cocoons".

This nebula was given the name War and Peace Nebula by the Midcourse Space Experiment scientists because of its appearance. They said that in infrared images the bright, western part resembles a dove, while the eastern part looks like a skull.

This nebula includes the open cluster Pismis 24, which is home to several massive stars. One of the brightest stars in the cluster, Pismis 24-1, was thought possibly to be the most massive on record, approaching 300 solar masses, until it was discovered to be a multiple system of at least three stars; component stars would still remain near 100 solar masses, making them among the more massive stars on record.(source wikipedia)

This picture was taken in 7th Meeting Brazilian of Astrophotography in July, 2014 - Alto Paraíso de Goiás - Chapada dos Veadeiros - Goiás - Brazil.

Technical data
ISO 800, total exposure of 01h45m (21 subs), darks, flats and bias applied.

Equipment
- Equatorial Mount Orion Atlas EQ-G
- Auto guided with Orion Starshoot and Refractor Orion 80mm
- Refractor Triplet Meade 80mm APO F6
- Canon DSLR 500D modded with Astrodon Filter
- Astro-Tech Field Flattener 2"

Software
Capture: BackyardEOS
Processing: PixInsight 1.8 and Adobe Photoshop CS5

Stars's spikes were created by crossed wire in front of refractor!