M16/M17 Region - The Eagle and Omega Nebulae (DSLR)

Click to Zoom

The M16/M17 region — the Eagle and Omega Nebulae — in a wide DSLR field, one of five images taken during a summer astrophysics workshop. Also from that session: M31, the Lagoon/Trifid region, the North America and Pelican region, and the Rho-Antares region. This image is also covered in a blog post.

Location: Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus

Date: June 2018

Scope/Mount: Takahashi FSQ-85ED ("Baby-Q") apo refractor @ f/5.3 on a Takahashi NJP mount

Camera: Nikon D810a DSLR

Exposure Info: 28 minutes total (2 minute subs, ISO 1600)

Extra Notes: Unattended and unguided -- polar aligned and pointed manually with the finder scope, then left to run on an on-camera intervalometer while the "Astrophysics in a Nutshell" workshop students worked on other things.

About this Image

M16, the Eagle Nebula, and M17, the Omega (or Swan) Nebula, share a rich stretch of the summer Milky Way along the Serpens/Sagittarius border. Both are bright, easy naked-eye-adjacent targets, and the "Baby-Q" refractor's wide field frames the pair together nicely.

This was one of several simple, unattended data sets I shot for students at the workshop to practice their processing on -- about as close to "point and shoot" as astrophotography gets, and a good reminder of how much dark skies alone can do for you.

🤖 AI-drafted · unverified

What it is: M16, the Eagle Nebula, is a young open cluster wrapped in an emission nebula famous for the "Pillars of Creation." M17, the Omega (or Swan) Nebula, is a bright star-forming emission nebula a few degrees to the south.
Constellation: Serpens Cauda (M16); Sagittarius (M17)
Distance: ~5,700 ly (M16); ~5,000–6,000 ly (M17)
Apparent magnitude: 6.0 (M16); 6.0 (M17)
Angular size: ~7′ (M16 cluster); ~11 × 11′ (M17)
Coordinates: M16: RA 18h 18m 48s, Dec -13° 49′

This summary was generated by an AI assistant from general astronomical references, not from Jay's own notes on this specific image. Treat every detail above as a starting point for research, not settled fact.