M17 = NGC6618 ( 18h 20.8m -16°11´, ~6 mag. )


Omega Nebula in Sagittarius was discovered by de Cheseaux in 1746 and Messier observed it on June 3, 1764. Also called Swan Nebula, it is impressive both visually as well as on the photographs and contains no noticable associated star cluster. Measuring 40 ly across, that nebulous complex is about 4,900 ly away. M17 can be easily spotted in binoculars abot 2°30' SW od g Scuti (see finder chart below).

The above image was taken on June 22, 1998 from Sooke, BC using Cookbook 245 LDC CCD camera on Ultima 8 f6.3 telescope, autoguided with Cookbook 211 LDC CCD camera on piggybacked 500mm f8 telephoto lens. It is composed of six white exposures (120 sec. each) as well as cyan, magenta and yellow-filtered integrations (4 x 120 sec., 4 x 120 sec. and 3 x 120sec., respectively) processed with AIP4WIN and adjusted in Lab color space using Corel PhotoPaint 8.

North is to the right.


The wide field image below (stack of 14 x 60 sec. exposures) was captured with 8 inch SCT at f3.0 and a Cookbook 245LDC CCD camera on August 24, 2000 from Starfest star party near Mt.Forest, Ontario. The image was processed with AIP4WIN software.

North is to the right as well.


Map created in Guide 7.0 - 7°45' x 7°45'. North is up.


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© Jan Wisniewski