Tag Archives: Constellation Serpens

Eagle Nebula in Serpens

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. The tower of gas that can be seen coming off the nebula is approximately 9.5 light-years or about 90 trillion kilometers long.

The brightest star in the nebula (HD 168076) has an apparent magnitude of +8.24, easily visible with good binoculars. It is actually abinary star formed of an O3.5V star plus an O7.5V companion.
The cluster associated with the nebula has approximately 460 stars, the brightest of spectral class O, a mass of roughly 80 solar masses, and a luminosity up to 1 million times that of the Sun. Its age has been estimated to be 1–2 million years.
The descriptive names reflect impressions of the shape of the central pillar rising from the southeast into the central luminous area. The name “Star Queen Nebula” was introduced by Robert Burnham, Jr., reflecting his characterization of the central pillar as the Star Queen shown in silhouette.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: AG Optical 12.5 IDK
Mounts: Paramount MX
Software: photoshop, DC-3 Dreams ACP, PixInsight PixInsinght 1.8 RC7, Maxim DL
Filters: Astrodon H-alpha 5nm, Astrodon E-series LRGB
Dates: June 18, 2014
Locations: New Mexico Skies

Author: Mike Miller
AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI 22 July 2014

Inside the Eagle Nebula

Credit & Copyright: T. A. Rector & B. A. Wolpa, NOAO, AURA

From afar, the whole thing looks like an Eagle. A closer look at the Eagle Nebula, however, shows the bright region is actually a window into the center of a larger dark shell of dust. Through this window, a brightly-lit workshop appears where a whole open cluster of stars is being formed. In this cavity tall pillars and round globules of dark dust and cold molecular gas remain where stars are still forming. Already visible are several young bright blue stars whose light and winds are burning away and pushing back the remaining filaments and walls of gas and dust. The Eagle emission nebula, tagged M16, lies about 6500 light years away, spans about 20 light-years, and is visible with binoculars toward the constellation of the Serpent (Serpens). This picture combines three specific emitted colors and was taken with the 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak, Arizona,USA.

APOD NASA 16-feb-2014

Eagle nebula

The Eagle Nebula (catalogued as Messier 16 or M16, and as NGC 6611, and also known as the Star Queen Nebula) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745-46. Its name derives from its shape that is thought to resemble an eagle. It contains several active star-forming gas and dust regions.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Celestron C8 SCT
Imaging cameras: QHYCCD QHY5L-II Mono, Nikon D5000
Mounts: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro Goto
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Orion ShortTube 80
Guiding cameras: QHYCCD QHY5L-II Mono
Focal reducers: Celestron f/6.3 Focal Reducer/Corrector, GSO 1.25″ 0.5x Focal Reducer
Software: DeepSkyStacker, PHD guiding, Leandro Fornaziero Pardal Astronomy controls
Resolution: 2532×1588
Dates: July 3, 2013
Locations: Home
Frames: 1×3000″

Autor: Leandro Fornaziero

AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI
17 December 2013

We select the best works of amateur astrophotographers with details of equipment, shooting processing etc.

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