M17 - The Swan Nebula in LRGB

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Photographer:

[email protected]

Location of Photo:

Natchez Trace State Park, Wildersville/Lexington, TN, USA

Date/Time of photo:

July 4 & 5, 2014

Equipment:

Telescope: Sky Watcher Quantum 120 Apo @ f/7 Accessories: SW Quantum matched flattener; Dew control by Dew Buster; Alnitak Flat-Man Mount: Takahashi EM-200 Temma2 Camera: QSI583wsg CCD @ -10.0C Guiding: Starlight Xpress Lodestar via PHD Filters: Astrodon Tru-Balance E-Series Gen II LRGB filters Exposure: 18 x 10 min. binned 1x1 Luminance; 14 x 5 min. binned 2x2 in each R, G, & B Acquisition: ImagesPlus 5.0 Camera Control Processing: PixInsight 1.8; Adobe PhotoShop CS5

Description:

The Swan Nebula is an HII region, with a 6.0 apparent magnitude, that lies around 5 to 6 thousand light-years away in the rich starfields of the Sagittarius area of the Milky Way in the constellation Sagittarius. Phillippe Loys de Cheseaux discovered this nebula in 1745 and it was catalogued in 1764 by Charles Messier. Considered one of the brightest and most massive star-forming regions in our galaxy, this nebula spans some 15 light-years in diameter and has a total mass estimated to be 800 solar masses.

Website:

http://cntastro.smugmug.com