Barnard 84, NGC 6440 und NGC 6445

From April 24 to May 3, 2022, I spent several nights at the Tivoli Astrofarm in Namibia, one of the premier locations in the world for deep-sky astrophotography. The combination of dark, transparent skies and the pristine southern horizon makes Tivoli an ideal site for capturing the subtle details of the Milky Way’s central regions.

During that stay, I used the equipment of the observatory “Drebach South” to take a series of deep images of the southern sky. Among the targets was a fascinating region in Sagittarius, featuring the dark nebula Barnard 84 alongside the globular cluster NGC 6440 and the planetary nebula NGC 6445.

This area of the sky is a showcase of contrast and diversity: Barnard 84 appears as a small, irregular patch of darkness set against the rich star fields of the Galactic bulge, while NGC 6440 shines as a densely packed sphere of ancient stars. Nearby, the blue-green glow of NGC 6445 — sometimes referred to as the Little Gem Nebula — adds another layer of visual interest. Together, these objects form a compelling portrait of stellar evolution, from the birth of stars in dusty clouds to their final stages as compact remnants.

Data calibration, registration, and final image processing were all carried out in PixInsight, with careful attention paid to balancing the dense star field and faint nebulosity. Bringing out the fine structure of the dark nebula without overwhelming the nearby objects required a subtle touch during nonlinear stretching and background correction.

The final image captures this rich and varied region of Sagittarius in all its complexity — a vivid reminder of how dynamic and interwoven the processes of star formation and death truly are.

The result was as follows: