Insight Observatory's featured deep-sky object for this post is M17, the Omega Nebula, also known as the Swan Nebula, Checkmark Nebula, and the Horseshoe Nebula (cataloged as Messier 17 or M17 or NGC 6618).
The Omega Nebula is an H II region in the constellation Sagittarius and was discovered by Philippe Loys de Chéseaux in 1745. Charles Messier cataloged it in 1764. It is located in the rich starfields of the Sagittarius area of the Milky Way.
M17 is between 5,000 and 6,000 light-years from Earth and it spans some 15 light-years in diameter. The cloud of interstellar matter of which this nebula is a part is roughly 40 light-years in diameter and has a mass of 30,000 solar masses. The total mass of the Omega Nebula is an estimated 800 solar masses.
It is considered one of the brightest and most massive star-forming regions of our galaxy. Its local geometry is similar to the Orion Nebula except that it is viewed edge-on rather than face-on.
The open cluster NGC 6618 lies embedded in the nebulosity and causes the gases of the nebula to shine due to radiation from these hot, young stars. However, the actual number of stars in the nebula is much higher. It is also one of the youngest clusters known, with an age of just 1 million years.
The Swan portion of M17, the Omega Nebula in the Sagittarius nebulosity is said to resemble a barber's pole.
Insight Observatory has recently started an image set for Starbase of M17 that will be ready for download within the next few months. This image set is currently being created on the 5" f/5.8 Williams Optics APO refractor (ATEO-2A) located in New Mexico. So far there are 2.5 hours of data from the image set completed and the total is planned to be between 6 and 8 hours of data integration. The images of the Omega Nebula pictured with the ATEO-2A imaging system above were processed with the 2.5 hours of data taken so far on ATEO-2A.
Insight Observatory currently has image sets of M17, the Omega Nebula, available for download on Starbase that was imaged on the 12.5" f/9 Ritchey Chretien remote telescope, (ATEO-3) located in dark skies of Chile. These image sets contain 4.5 hours of Red, Blue, and Green data and 8 hours and 15 minutes of H-Alpha data.
You can subscribe to and download these M17 image sets and others by signing up for an ATEO Portal account or signing into your existing portal account to access Starbase.
Source: Wikipedia
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The Omega Nebula is an H II region in the constellation Sagittarius and was discovered by Philippe Loys de Chéseaux in 1745. Charles Messier cataloged it in 1764. It is located in the rich starfields of the Sagittarius area of the Milky Way.
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| M17, the Omega Nebula imaged on Insight Observatory's ATEO-3 located in the dark skies of Chile. image data by Franck Jobard and processed by Utkarsh Mishra. |
M17 is between 5,000 and 6,000 light-years from Earth and it spans some 15 light-years in diameter. The cloud of interstellar matter of which this nebula is a part is roughly 40 light-years in diameter and has a mass of 30,000 solar masses. The total mass of the Omega Nebula is an estimated 800 solar masses.
It is considered one of the brightest and most massive star-forming regions of our galaxy. Its local geometry is similar to the Orion Nebula except that it is viewed edge-on rather than face-on.
The open cluster NGC 6618 lies embedded in the nebulosity and causes the gases of the nebula to shine due to radiation from these hot, young stars. However, the actual number of stars in the nebula is much higher. It is also one of the youngest clusters known, with an age of just 1 million years.
The Swan portion of M17, the Omega Nebula in the Sagittarius nebulosity is said to resemble a barber's pole.
 |
| Insight Observatory's 5" f/5.8 Williams Optics APO Refractor (ATEO-2A) located in the dark skies of New Mexico, US (left) and processed image data of M17, the Omega Nebula from 2.5 hours by Utkarsh Mishra (upper right) and Michael Petrasko (lower right). Image data acquired by John Evelan. |
Insight Observatory has recently started an image set for Starbase of M17 that will be ready for download within the next few months. This image set is currently being created on the 5" f/5.8 Williams Optics APO refractor (ATEO-2A) located in New Mexico. So far there are 2.5 hours of data from the image set completed and the total is planned to be between 6 and 8 hours of data integration. The images of the Omega Nebula pictured with the ATEO-2A imaging system above were processed with the 2.5 hours of data taken so far on ATEO-2A.
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| M17, the Omega Nebula (pictured right) imaged and processed by Frank Jobard with the 12.5" f/9 Ritchey Chretien, ATEO-3 (pictured above left) housed in Deep Sky Chile's remote observatory located in the dark skies of the Hurtado Valley, Chile (pictured lower left). |
Insight Observatory currently has image sets of M17, the Omega Nebula, available for download on Starbase that was imaged on the 12.5" f/9 Ritchey Chretien remote telescope, (ATEO-3) located in dark skies of Chile. These image sets contain 4.5 hours of Red, Blue, and Green data and 8 hours and 15 minutes of H-Alpha data.
You can subscribe to and download these M17 image sets and others by signing up for an ATEO Portal account or signing into your existing portal account to access Starbase.
Source: Wikipedia
