Messier 16, the Eagle Nebula, is a bright nebula in Serpens Cauda, containing active star formation, a new star cluster and the so-called “Pillars of Creation”.
This image is the last of six I took on a field trip with Macarthur Astronomical Society on 22nd August 2017.
Object Details:
NGC 6611, IC4703.
Visual magnitude: +6.4.
Apparent diameter: 35 x 28 arc-min.
Actual diameter: 58 light years.
Distance: 5,700 light years.
Image:
Exposure: 6 x 4 min ISO 1250.
Date: 2017-08-22.
Location: The Oaks, NSW.
Sky: semi-dark rural sky, clear.
Processing: Canon DPP, Deep Sky Stacker and GIMP.
Cropping: no.
Gear:
Imaging telescope: Skywatcher Esprit 120ED Super APO triplet refractor.
Focal length: 840mm, focal ratio: f/7.
Imaging camera: Canon EOS 60D.
Guiding telescope: Orion ShortTube 80mm Achromatic doublet.
Focal length: 400mm, focal ratio: f/5.
Guiding camera: Orion StarShoot camera.
Guiding control: PHD2 software.
Telescope mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R.
Polar aligning: QHYCCD PoleMaster.
No filter, no flattener.
Image © R.Powell
Cosmic Focus 
Bravo, you’ve made six images in one day! If they were mine, I would have cherished them very much 🙂
Thinking about “Pillars of Creations”, those great smokestacks, the enormousness of the formation, one can only feel thrilled and humbled…
LikeLike
Thanks Kazia. Six images in one evening is about the maximum I think. My heart wants more quantity but my head is saying slow down and improve the quality – although I could never hope to match Hubble’s amazing image of the Pillars with my trusty 60D.
LikeLike