Swan Nebula

[andyc]

Messier 17, the Swan Nebula is a bright stellar factory about 5,500 light-years away in Sagittarius. Not my best picture - the stars are 'blooming' a bit from an unknown cause, whether dew, dirt or misaligned optics, and the Moon was fairly bright - but it's still a fairly pretty scene. The 'belt mod' for my HEQ5Pro mount is working well though!

16 x 5-minute exposures, ISO800 and more details at the larger version here. (http://www.pbase.com/andycasely/image/160586860/original)

[Robert9]

That's a pretty good image Andy, irrespective of the moon.
Robert

[multiweb]

Very nice. Sharp details. :thumbsup:

[raymo]

Very nice Andy. You can improve it a bit if you quieten down the bright centre of the nebula. There are some intricate criss crossing details to
bring out there.
raymo