M16 - NGC 6611 - The Pillars of Creation detail (Niall MacNeill)

M16 - NGC 6611 - The Pillars of Creation detail

I was lucky enough to have a good run recently on M16, the iconic Eagle Nebula. The field of view of this image only captures the central area. Located in the constellation of Serpens, it is about 5,700 light years away. This region is also famous for one of the best known Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images called the “Pillars of Creation”. From Wikipedia…..."These columns – which resemble stalagmites protruding from the floor of a cavern – are composed of interstellar hydrogen gas and dust, which act as incubators for new stars. Inside the columns and on their surface astronomers have found knots or globules of denser gas, called EGGs (Evaporating Gaseous Globules). Stars are being formed inside some of these.” and…………."The photograph was made with light emitted by different elements in the cloud and appears as a different color in the composite image: green for hydrogen, red for singly ionized sulfur and blue for double-ionized oxygen atoms.”

Because the HST image is narrowband SHO it is a false colour image compared to my true colour image (see the comparison image Version D).

A more detailed view of the Pillars of Creation can be accessed with the mouse hover.

Once again I used starnet in PixInsight to produce a starless version (Version C), which I processed prior to adding the stars back to the image.

M16-NGC 6611-The Pillars of Creation within The Eagle Nebula

Image: LRGB

Data capture: 2021-07-06 to 2021-07-08

OTA: C14 EdgeHD

Mount: MX+

Camera: SBIG 16803

Filters: Astronomik 50mm unmounted LRGB

Lights: 14.8 hours of integration

Luminance: 21 x 600 secs

Red: 21 x 600 secs

Green: 22 x 600 secs

Blue: 25 x 600 secs

Bias: 35

Darks: 35

Flats 20 per colour channel per camera change

RA/Dec Coordinates

RA 18h18m45.96s

Dec -13°47’55.59"

Final
Original
B
C
D

B

Description: The Pillars of Creation zoomed in

Uploaded: ...

C

Description: Starless version

Uploaded: ...

D

Description: Comparison with HST image of the Pillars of Creation (SHO)

Uploaded: ...

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	4729261
PixInsight job	DDOL3GNB0YK4NW1K1HCD8HDMS1RHBL8X
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	18h18m47s.832
RA (top/left)	18h19m48s.604
RA (top/right)	18h17m48s.180
RA (bottom/right)	18h17m46s.801
RA (bottom/left)	18h19m47s.503

Dec (center)	-13°47′42″.86
Dec (top/left)	-13°33′14″.50
Dec (top/right)	-13°32′55″.10
Dec (bottom/right)	-14°02′12″.80
Dec (bottom/left)	-14°02′29″.75

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