Object Information:                     M16 (NGC 6611), Eagle Nebula
                                                   Mag. - 6.0
                                                   Constellation - Serpens Cauda
                                                   Location - R.A. 18:18.8,  Dec. -13.47
                                                   Distance -  6,500 light years,
                                                   Size - 40 light years across,
                                                   Estimated age - 5.5 million years old.

Description:  This object is an emission nebula and open cluster.  This also is an area of active star formation.  The long finger-shaped objects in the the image are massive columns of cold gas that extend from a vast cloud of molecular hydrogen.  Inside these light-years-long columns the interstellar gas is dense enough to collapse under its own weight and is in the process of forming new stars. Follow this link to a series of Hubble Space Telescope images and information on the Eagle Nebula.

Imaged at:                                  Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona.
                                                  Elevation - 2,500 feet

Equipment:                                 Optics - Takahashi MT-160 at f/6.1
                                                  Mount - Astro-Physics 900 GTO,
                                                  Camera - Santa Barbara Instrument Group (SBIG) ST-7E NABG  CCD,

Exposure Information:                May 6-7, 2003
                                                  Luminance - Fifty stacked exposures of 1 minute each,

                                                  RGB - R - 300 sec., G - 300 sec., 480 sec.

Guiding:                                     SBIG ST-237 through a Celestron f/5 105 mm spotting scope,

Image Acquisition Software:       CCD Soft Ver. 5,

Image Processing Software:        AIP for Windows - image calibration;  MIRA AP 6 - registering and stacking of images;  Adobe Photoshop for final image processing and creation of LRGB imaage.