Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Sagittarius (Sgr)  ·  Contains:  Checkmark Nebula  ·  IC 4706  ·  IC 4707  ·  Lobster Nebula  ·  M 17  ·  NGC 6618  ·  Swan Nebula  ·  omega Nebula
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M17 Omega Nebula, Doug Summers
M17 Omega Nebula
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M17 Omega Nebula

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M17 Omega Nebula, Doug Summers
M17 Omega Nebula
Powered byPixInsight

M17 Omega Nebula

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Description

Messier 17 is known by many names including the Swan Nebula, Omega nebula, Horseshoe Nebula, and Lobster Nebula.  It's a giant interstellar dust and gas cloud that's roughly 40 light years in diameter, and contains about 30K solar masses.     The distance to M17 is about 5500 light years, and the embedded cluster is on the order of 1 million years old.

I always thought of M17 as a "rubber duckie" when viewing it through an eyepiece.   In this image, I can't help but see a dog in profile wearing some kind of helmet (the swan is a prominent part of the Jaw of the dog) and a crouching kitten (below the dog's mouth on the right).     There's a lot going on in that cloud!

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  • M17 Omega Nebula, Doug Summers
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    M17 Omega Nebula, Doug Summers
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Description: Same data, just reprocessed to take advantage of new tools (SPCC, GHS, BXT, NXT).

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M17 Omega Nebula, Doug Summers