M17 (Gary Imm) - AstroBin

Celestial hemisphere: Southern · Constellation: Sagittarius (Sgr) · Contains: Checkmark Nebula · IC 4706 · IC 4707 · Lobster Nebula · M 17 · NGC 6596 · NGC 6618 · PGC 202343 · PGC 202348 · PGC 202351 · PGC 202400 · PGC 202401 · PGC 202409 · PGC 202437 · PGC 202443 · Sh2-45 · Sh2-47 · Swan Nebula · omega Nebula

M17

This object is an emission nebula located 5000 light years away in the constellation of Sagittarius at a declination of -16 degrees.

Of all of the sky objects, I believe that this one has the highest number of commonly accepted nicknames. Focusing on the bright central portion of the nebula leads to the names of the Swan Nebula as well as the Checkmark Nebula. Focusing on the broader nebula leads to the names of the Omega Nebula as well as the Horseshoe Nebula. Which name to use? As in most decisions I make in life, I relied on the internet. The Omega Nebula was the "winner" with 100,000 search engine matches of that name, compared to 65,000 for the Swan Nebula, 15,000 for the Checkmark Nebula, and 10,000 for the Horseshoe Nebula. The Omega Nebula name originated with the famous astronomer John Herschel, who stated that "The figure of this nebula is nearly that of the Greek capital Omega, somewhat distorted and very unequally bright."

Regardless of the name chosen, this nebula is beautiful and fascinating. Thick dust clouds are both obscuring the central bright stars of the nebula and also reflecting and spreading light of other stars. The object spans a big section of the sky — its gas and dust clouds measure about 15 light-years across. This nebula is considered one of the brightest and most massive star-forming regions of our galaxy.

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Sharpless2 Objects
ASI 6200 MM Pro
The refractors!
Cloudy Nights
Texas Astronomy
Fine Art Astrophotography
Narrowband imaging
Takahashi Refractors

Emission (Full NB) Nebulae

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The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

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Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	3875243
PixInsight job	TXDOV5SUY9OHFQTD1OPXNYIUE2ZAF6F0
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	18h21m05s.651
RA (top/left)	18h24m57s.766
RA (top/right)	18h17m06s.793
RA (bottom/right)	18h17m11s.744
RA (bottom/left)	18h25m05s.962

Dec (center)	-16°10′46″.42
Dec (top/left)	-15°29′50″.26
Dec (top/right)	-15°32′08″.57
Dec (bottom/right)	-16°51′27″.97
Dec (bottom/left)	-16°49′07″.11

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