M16 - 'the eagle has landed' (Tom Gray)

Celestial hemisphere: Southern · Constellation: Serpens (Ser) · Contains: Eagle Nebula · IC 4703 · M 16 · NGC 6611 · Star Queen

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M16 - 'the eagle has landed'

Without wishing to detract from those immortal words, or the extraordinary efforts of NASA at putting men on the moon...I have been longing to image M16 with my 'new' old set up. Finally in the pre-dawn astronomical twilight, M16 cleared the neighbours roof, and I was able to take my first tentative steps at imaging this nebula - made famous by the HST iconic 'pillars of creation'.

Using a dual narrow band filter I was able to capture a surprising amount of detail in a very short time - just 20 minutes (using 2 min subs), and less than ideal conditions. I love the almost 3D quality of this image, which really does look as if an eagle is swooping down on some unsuspecting animal, poking its head above the surrounding nebulosity.

I am looking forward to taking longer exposures (albeit the nights grow shorter as we approach mid-summer), and trying to capture those pillars at a higher focal ratio. NGC 6611 is a delightful open cluster, which frames the eagle as it swoops in. I am so impressed with what can be achieved (probably more luck than judgement) with relatively modest kit, at least by today's standards (or perhaps expectations).

Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope (SCT) Imagers
Altair Astro 183 M/C Hypercams
Optolong L-eNhance filter
The OSC Club (One Shot Camera)
UK Astro-Imaging

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Status	Advanced failed
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	3556699
PixInsight job	JYUZXRHA25U9L8M7T9MVFY48RMY54N6J
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	PLATE_SOLVING_IMAGE

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