A wonderful combined wide-field target. The area surrounding the the Eagle and Omega (or Swan) Nebulae is particularly rich in hydrogen emission nebulae, many of which have unique designations. To the upper right of the image is the large defuse emission nebula Sh2 44. Also visible in the lower portions of the image are Sh2 48, Sh2 50, Sh2 53 and RCW 159. The Eagle Nebula is catalogued as NGC 6611 or Messier 16, M16, and is located in the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way. At nearly 6000 ly distance, it is an unusually bright nebula (apparent magnitude 6.4) due to the extensive star forming regions it contains. The Omega Nebula, M 17 or NGC 6618 (which is actually the designation of the open cluster it contains), is a bright Nebula with a structure similar to the Orion Nebula except that it is viewed from a different angle. It lies between 5,00 to 6,000 ly distant, with an apparent magnitude of 6.0 and is considered to be one of the brightest and most massive star forming regions of the Milky Way. As with all “Summer Nebula”, whilst the night-time temperatures are milder, making for a more pleasant photographic experience, the time available to collect data is limited, even, as here, from our favourite dark sky location in Croatia. Taken with a full colour camera this warm interpretation brings out lots of detail within both the Eagle and Omega Nebulae.
TS94EDPH (with Reducer)
10Micron GM1000 HPS
SIGMA fp L (colour)
Optolong L-Extreme filter
ca. 2 hrs, ISO 1600, F4.4, 414mm