| Designation |
Messier 17
(NGC 6618) The Swan Nebula aka Omega nebula
|
| Type | Emission nebula with open star cluster |
| Constellation | Sagittarius (The Archer) |
| Coordinates | Telescope centered at RA '18 20 32' - Dec '- 16 06 51' |
| Magnitude | 6.0 |
| Size | 40 light years in diameter (brightest portion is 15 light years) |
| Distance | 6,800 light years |
| Dimensions | 20 x 15 arcminutes |
| Image Field | 22 x 16 arcminutes |
|
Notes:
|
M17 located in the Sagittarius spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy. It is a cloud of gas (primarily hydrogen) and dust that contains regions of active star formation. It flouresces due to the intense high energy radiation emitted by the hot young stars forming within. |
| The brightest region (whitish area) is the result of light reflected off the gas and dust by nearby bright stars. | |
|
|
The mass of this gas cloud is estimated to be 800 times that of our sun, but spread out over an area about 40 light years. |
| Telescopes | Meade 10" LX200 f/10 on Losmandy G-11 with Gemini L3 |
| Focal Length | 1575 mm @ f/6.3 |
| Guiding | SXV guidehead through Takahashi FS60C @ f/5.9 |
| Telescope Control | Maxim DL (V4.07) |
| CCD Camera |
Starlight Xpress SXV-H9 - USB 2 ExView progressive scan
1392
x 1040 (6.45 uM) pixel array (8.98 x 6.71 active area)
|
| Image Scale | .88 arcsec/pixel |
| Filters |
1.25" Astronomik Type II Dichroic IR blocking
filters in Astronomik filter drawer - Clear,Red, Green, Blue, Ha,
O-III, SII
|
| Exposures |
Total exposure time: 244 minutes: Ha 100 (20
x 5) unbinned, RGB 18 (18x2) minutes each binned 2x2, Clear
40 (8x5), O-III 65 (13x5), SII 85 (17x5) -Sigma combined.
Color
composed LLRGB- Lum,Ha/R(Ha/R)GB
Narrowband (Hubble palette) SII, Ha,
OIII (RGB)
|
| Calibration | flats, bias |
| Processing Software | Maxim DL, Photoshop CS (8.0), NEAT image (color channel smoothing) |
| Location | Chiefland Astronomy Village, FL - 29.393 N , - 82.863 W |
| Date/Time | 04/09/05 & 4/10/05 & 05/07/2005 (narrowband) |
