Eagle Nebula M16 in Serpens Cauda

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Scope: Mak-Newt 152 mm  f/4.8, Location: Laguna Mountains, CA,   4 June 2010  Camera: ST8300M

Exposure:  12 x 6 min H-Alpha Exposure (1x1), 4 x 6 min UV/IR Block Luminance,  8 x 2 min RGB exposures (2x2).

Processing: Images were captured with CCDSoft. Aligned/stacked and dark subtracted in Astroart ; Sigma Combine method was used for stacking subs.  All channels were scaled and rough color balanced in Astroart.  Channels were co-registered in Astroart. G2V  factors  were applied to color channels in Astroart.  The 6 minute H-Alpha block exposures were combined with the 6 minute luminance exposures  for the main luminance construction with level adjustments and curves to bring out object features. Some Levels and Curves were selectively applied excluding the core area.  LRGB combine was done in Photoshop. Saturation adjustments were selectively applied excluding the core area. Core area exclusion on some portions of Levels, Curves, and Saturation was to avoid core over brightening and out of Gamut.  Background noise reduction was applied in PixInsight LE (SGBNR).   Sharpening was done on the luminance channel. Final touches and color balance in Photoshop. Final Image size is approximately 3352x2532 (resized to 3000x2250).

North is up in this image. This is the well known "Eagle Nebula" cataloged as IC 4703 and also known as M16 and as NGC 6611.  The latter being the actual star cluster somewhat central in the image with IC 4703 the emission nebula itself. It is located in the constellation of Serpens. These objects lie about 7,000 light years distant from Earth. This image replaces an earlier image of this region and can be seen in the Archives here.    Horizontal FOV is 83 arc minutes.

Image center is approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 18h 18m 56s Dec: -13°48'31" 

All images and content remain the property of Jim Thommes - copyright 2003 - 2012

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