The Eagle Nebula (catalogued as
Messier 16
or M16, and as NGC 6611) is a young open cluster
of
stars in
the constellation
Serpens,
discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745-46. Its name
derives from its shape which is resemblant of an eagle. It is
the subject of the famous "Pillars of Creation" photograph by
the Hubble Space Telescope, which shows pillars of star-forming
gas and dust within the nebula.
|
|
|
|
| Object |
The Eagle Nebula is part of a diffuse emission
nebula, or H II region, which is catalogued as IC 4703. This region
of active current star formation is about 6,500 light-years distant.
The tower of gas that can be seen coming off the nebula is
approximately 100 trillion km (60 trillion miles) high. The
brightest star in the nebula has an apparent magnitude of +8.24,
easily visible with good binoculars.
|
||||||
| Equipment | H-Alpha Version: Willian Optics FLT-110 f/6.5 (FL
715mm)
AP-600E GTO Mount
Color Version:Orion Atlas Mount, EQMOD, Astro-Tech 111 f/7, 80mm guidescope Orion SS Autoguider |
||||||
| Camera | H-Alpha Version
SBIG ST2000XM, SBIG Filterwheel w/Astronomik Type @c filters
Color Version: CCD-Labs
Q453HR
Square 7.8um
x 7.8um
3032(h) x
2016(v) ~ 6.11M pixels
23.4mm(h) x
15.6mm(v) APS film equivalent |
||||||
| Exposure | H-alpha 12x20min Color Version 7x15min |
||||||
| Processing | Captured
with Maxim DL, Aligned and Stacked in
CCD STACK Finished with Photoshop 7 Color Version, Captured with Maxim DL, Aligned and Stacked in DeepSky Stacker, Background & color Adjustments in CCDStack, Finished with Photoshop CS5 using AStronomy tools 6.1 |
||||||
| Date/Time | H-Alpha 05\25\2006 Mount Pinos, Ca, Color 07\01\2011 Mount Pinos, Ca |