Ten degrees north of the Lagoon and Trifid nebulae lie another pair of famous nebulae. Known as the Eagle nebula (top) and Omega nebula (bottom), this picture shows these two nebulae against the background of the dense star fields of the Sagittarius Arm of the Galaxy. The numerous dark patches in this picture show that the Eagle and Omega nebulae are only the brightest areas in a region which also contains many dark nebulae.
This is a list of the nebulae in this region. The Eagle nebula (M16) is the largest of the two nebulae, although the name M16 (or NGC 6611) is often used only for the bright central region of the nebula and IC 4703 is used for the entire nebula. The Omega nebula (M17) is the other bright nebula here and it also includes IC 4706 and IC 4707. IC 4701 is also a fairly large (but much fainter) emission nebula in this region.
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Catalogue Equatorial Galactic Size Type Distance Size Other Names
Number Coordinates Coordinates (arcmins) (ly) (ly)
RA (2000) Dec l° b°
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IC 4701 18 16.0 -16 44 14.1 0.0 40' E 4250? 50?
IC 4703 18 18.6 -13 58 16.8 +0.8 60' E 5700 100
NGC 6611 18 18.8 -13 48 17.0 +0.8 8' E 5700 13 M16, Eagle nebula
IC 4706 18 19.7 -16 01 15.1 -0.4 4' E 4250 5
IC 4707 18 19.9 -16 00 15.2 -0.5 4' E 4250 5
NGC 6618 18 20.8 -16 11 15.1 -0.8 30' E 4250 40 M17, Omega nebula
IC 1287 18 30.4 -10 48 20.9 -0.3 20' R 4450? 25?
Column 1: The standard catalogue name for the nebula.
Column 2: Right Ascension and Declination for epoch 2000.
Column 3: Galactic Longitude (l) and Latitude (b).
Column 4: Angular size of the nebula in arcminutes.
Column 5: Nebula type: E = emission, R = reflection.
Column 6: Approximate distance to the nebula.
Column 7: Approximate size of the nebula in light years.
Column 8: Alternative name of the nebula.
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