The above rendition is the result of me revisiting the data and reprocessing it 6 years later in July 2023.
M16 The Eagle Nebula
The Eagle Nebula is part of a diffuse emission nebula, or H II region, which is catalogued as IC 4703. This region of active current star formation is about 7000 light-years distant. A spire of gas that can be seen coming off the nebula in the northeastern part is approximately 9.5 light-years or about 90 trillion kilometers long.
The cluster associated with the nebula has approximately 8100 stars, which are mostly concentrated in a gap in the molecular cloud to the north-west of the Pillars. The brightest star (HD 168076) has an apparent magnitude of +8.24, easily visible with good binoculars. It is actually a binary star formed of an O3.5V star plus an O7.5V companion. This star has a mass of roughly 80 solar masses, and a luminosity up to 1 million times that of the Sun. The cluster's age has been estimated to be 1–2 million years.
Images taken by Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen using the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 greatly improved scientific understanding of processes inside the nebula. One of these photographs became famous as the "Pillars of Creation", depicting a large region of star formation. The small dark areas in the photograph are believed to be protostars (Bok globules). The pillar structure of the region resembles that of a much larger star formation region in the Soul Nebula of Cassiopeia, imaged with the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2005 and characterized as "Pillars of Star Creation". or "Pillars of Star Formation". 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 EGGs.
Imaging telescopes or lenses: Takahashi FSQ106ED
Imaging cameras: QSI 6120i
Mounts: Takahashi EM 400 Temma 2M
Guiding telescopes or lenses: QHY Mini Guider
Guiding cameras: QHY CCD QHY 5 L II
Software: PHD 2, Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight , Sequence Generator Pro SGP, Astro Pixel Processor.
Filters: Astrodon 3nm Ha, Astrodon 3nm OIII, Astrodon 3nm SII
Accessories: Robofocus Focuser, ATIK EFW2
Original Resolution: 4002 x 2712
Dates: 2nd - 6th July '17
Frames:
Astrodon 3nm Ha 19 x 1200"
Astrodon 3nm OIII 12 x 1200"
Astrodon 3nm SII 13 x 1200"
Integration: 14 Hours 40 Minutes
Center (RA, Dec):(274.755, -13.808)
Center (RA, hms):18h 19m 01.111s
Center (Dec, dms):-13° 48' 28.778"
Size:49.9 x 33.8 arcmin
Radius:0.503 deg
Pixel scale:0.998 arcsec/pixel
Orientation:Up is 89 degrees E of N
The cluster associated with the nebula has approximately 8100 stars, which are mostly concentrated in a gap in the molecular cloud to the north-west of the Pillars. The brightest star (HD 168076) has an apparent magnitude of +8.24, easily visible with good binoculars. It is actually a binary star formed of an O3.5V star plus an O7.5V companion. This star has a mass of roughly 80 solar masses, and a luminosity up to 1 million times that of the Sun. The cluster's age has been estimated to be 1–2 million years.
Images taken by Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen using the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 greatly improved scientific understanding of processes inside the nebula. One of these photographs became famous as the "Pillars of Creation", depicting a large region of star formation. The small dark areas in the photograph are believed to be protostars (Bok globules). The pillar structure of the region resembles that of a much larger star formation region in the Soul Nebula of Cassiopeia, imaged with the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2005 and characterized as "Pillars of Star Creation". or "Pillars of Star Formation". 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 EGGs.
Imaging telescopes or lenses: Takahashi FSQ106ED
Imaging cameras: QSI 6120i
Mounts: Takahashi EM 400 Temma 2M
Guiding telescopes or lenses: QHY Mini Guider
Guiding cameras: QHY CCD QHY 5 L II
Software: PHD 2, Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight , Sequence Generator Pro SGP, Astro Pixel Processor.
Filters: Astrodon 3nm Ha, Astrodon 3nm OIII, Astrodon 3nm SII
Accessories: Robofocus Focuser, ATIK EFW2
Original Resolution: 4002 x 2712
Dates: 2nd - 6th July '17
Frames:
Astrodon 3nm Ha 19 x 1200"
Astrodon 3nm OIII 12 x 1200"
Astrodon 3nm SII 13 x 1200"
Integration: 14 Hours 40 Minutes
Center (RA, Dec):(274.755, -13.808)
Center (RA, hms):18h 19m 01.111s
Center (Dec, dms):-13° 48' 28.778"
Size:49.9 x 33.8 arcmin
Radius:0.503 deg
Pixel scale:0.998 arcsec/pixel
Orientation:Up is 89 degrees E of N
The Pillars of Creation - a nice crop of the interesting formation.
Sky Plot
Annotated Image
