The Eagle Nebula (Messier 16)
I shot this Saturday night, July 20, 2019. Contained within this nebula is the famous "Pillars of Creation", three magnificent pillars of interstellar gas and dust where new stars are being created. This nebula is relatively close to us at a distance of 7,000 light-years. The approximately 450 stars within it are about 5.5 million years old, compared to our sun's 4.6 billion years of age. This nebula is medium high in the south at midnight in middle July and is within the arm of the Milky Way.
 A Wide view of the Eagle Nebula |
 The Orion ED80T CF Triplet Apochromatic Refractor Telescope with Altair Hypercam 294c Pro tec Camera ... Guide Scope/Camera and Auto Align Camera |
The Milky Way in Sagittarius:
(Hover over the picture for definitions ... Click on it to enlarge)
I took this 15 minute wide view of the Milky Way with my Canon T7i piggy-backed atop the telescope. Here you can see the 'Milkiness' of the core of our galaxy. Within this region lies several 'Messier Objects' including M 17, also known as the Omega Nebula. Jupiter was off to the right and as you can see, it moved a bit toward the east (left).
The 'Techy Stuff' (For those who want to know)
Telescope: Orion ED80T CF Triplet Apochromatic Refractor (3" lens)
Auto Align: Celestron StarSense
Telescope Control Software: CPWI
Camera: Altair 'Hypercam 294c Pro tec' with the sensor temperature setting at 23°F
Filter: City Light-Pollution Suppression
Capture Software: SharpCap Pro
Settings: Binning 1x1 ... Fits files
Light Frames: 41 at 120 seconds
Dark and Bias Frames: 20 ea
Stacked in PixInsight
Post Processing: PixInsight & Photoshop CC
Seeing conditions: 9 (based on 0-10 where 10 is crystal clear)
Outside Temperature: 76°F
Bortle Light Pollution index: 4.5 (Can barely see the Milky Way)
Location: My Backyard, Savannah, GA
... This was a Test Shot from August 27, 2018 ...
I took this image on the night of Monday, August 27, 2018, in my backyard. Exposure time (for the image) was 39 minutes. This nebula is medium high in the south at midnight on this date (just above the planet Saturn (in appearance). My future plan is to take a 2-3 hour exposure of this great nebula.
Pillars of Creation
Contained within this nebula is the famous "Pillars of Creation", three magnificent pillars of interstellar gas and dust where new stars are being created. This nebula is relatively close to us at a distance of 7,000 light-years. The approximately 450 stars within it are about 5.5 million years old, compared to our sun's 4.6 billion years of age.
Techy Stuff:
Telescope: 11" Celestron Edge HD with 0.7x Reducer Lens converting the focus ratio at f/7
Mount: CGEM ii
Camera: Canon T7i (modified for astrophotography)
Capture software: Backyard EOS v3.1.16 Premium Edition
Guiding: PHD 2 (RMS error: 0.92 ... i.e. decent tracking)
Light Frames: 13 at 180 seconds with ISO setting 1600
Dark Frames: 8 at 180 seconds with ISO setting 1600
Bias Frames: 10
Filter: Baader UHC-S
Stacked in PixInsight
Post Processed in Photoshop CC
Seeing Conditions: 7 (0-10, where 0 is total cloud cover)
Bortle Light-Pollution zone: 4.5 (can barely see the Milkyway)
Temperature: 78°F, Dew Point 72°
Location: Backyard, Savannah GA
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