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| Catalogue and alternative designations | M16,
Eagle Nebula, NGC 6611
|
| Type | Nebulous open cluster |
| Position | 18 18 48, -13 49 |
| Constellation | Serpens |
| Camera and Telescope | STXL6303 and 36.8 cm RCOS Ritchey Chretien |
| Focal Ratio | F9 |
| Exposure Details | LRGB
image using Astrodon Near
Infrared filters. Luminance =
150 minutes, Red = Green = Blue =
50
minutes. Luminance unbinned,
colours binned 2x2
With the Astrodon filters, Red is assigned to a band peaking at about 850nm, Green peaking at about 830nm and Blue at 750nm. The luminance is "visible blocked" with zero response shorter than 700nm. |
| Description | M16 or the Eagle nebula is one of the most famous deep sky images ever mostly because of the iconic "Pillars of Creation" first imaged by Hubble in 1995 and again in 2012. This image is in the near infrared with response going out to about one micron. The infrared view allows many stars that would be obscured by dust in a conventional image to shine through. M16 is about 7,000 light years distant and about 7 arcminutes across. |