"The Eagle Nebula (M16) and its central cluster NGC 6611 is one of the most spectacular and known star forming region in the sky, mainly thanks to the wonderful images of the Pillar of the Creation by the Hubble Space Telescope. NGC 6611 is a young cluster (1-3 Myrs), relatively close to our Sun (1.7k pc) and with a rich stellar population of both low mass and high mass stars.
NGC 6611 is a template of intermediate massive cluster, an ideal target to study how massive stars affect the star formation process in the parental molecular cloud. In fact, their intense emission of ionizing UV and X-ray radiation ionizes and dissociate the gas in the surrounding nebula creating a photodissociation front, which expands mainly because of the larger pressure with respect the surrounding medium. This is the main mechanism for the creation of the HII bubbles observed in several star forming clouds. "....
http://www.astropa.inaf.it/en/personal-pages/mario-giuseppe-guarcello/projects/star-formation-and-disks-evolution-in-the-eagle-nebula/This iconic nebula was a goal to achieve since we started this hobby.
Finally we dedicated ourselves to processing this project where Maurizio held sessions three different mountain location, in July and August 2020 and August 2021, with two different set up gear and using three filters.
Some sessions turned out better than others but we were even surprised to see quite a bit of detail and structure in the center of the nebula with the L-Pro filter.
For the processing, several stacks were made, due to the difference in the cameras used and filters, so for example the sessions of L-Pro with Canon R were done together and Ra apart and then a mixture of both final results was made.
The extraction of Ha and [OIII] was also carried out, from which a base image was made emulating the Hubble color palette in SHO, where R= Ha, G= .3[OIII] + .7Ha and B= [OIII].
The various images obtained were processed separately. The necessary strech and arcsen were applied as well as noise reduction and sharp. They all worked in starless.
Then a stack was made by means of layers with the various images obtained manually where a different percentage was applied to each layer depending on what was wanted to be highlighted in the combination. It was not easy but the stars are perfect to get a good alignment.
To certain layers a different type of blending mode was applied, screen, soft light and vivid light were used.
A series of local contrasts were also applied to various areas of the image to also enhance the details.
Finally, the reduction of the stars was done in such a way as not to affect key stars in the near part of the structures of various pillars and gas formations.
It was a demanding job but we are satisfied with the modest result achieved in this first atemp and we hope to go back on it again as we wish increase the quality of the data.
This nebula, like the Soul Nebula or the Heart Nebula, is extremely fascinating for the gas structures it shows. Thank for coming to see our work and We hope you enjoy it.
Processed May 2021
https://twitter.com/AstroOtus/status/1523676774801887233https://twitter.com/AstroOtus/status/1523676779415711746
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