DETAILS
Exposure: 5×420″ @ ISO 800
Lens: Nikon Nikkor 180ED f2.8 AIS @ f4
Filter: Hutech IDAS LPS P2 2″
Mount: Skywatcher EQ6 Pro
Camera: Amp-off Modded & Cooled Canon 350D
Date: 4th August 2011
Location: Coll de Jou (Barcelona, Spain)
Comments: I planned to take many more exposures, but this area of the sky got full of high clouds and I had to stop after only 5 good exposures. I didn’t callibrate the exposures.

M16, also known as the Eagle Nebula, is part of a diffuse emission nebula which is catalogued as IC 4703 in the constellation Serpens. It embeds a young open cluster of stars. Its name derives from its shape which is resemblant of an eagle. It is just in the center of the image.
This region of active current star formation is about 6,500 light-years distant.

M17, also known as the Omega Nebula or the Swan Nebula is an H II region in the constellation Sagittarius. It is located in the rich starfields of the Sagittarius area of the Milky Way and can be located in the right part of the image..
The Omega Nebula lies between 5000 and 6000 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. The total mass of the Omega Nebula is an estimated 800 solar masses.
An open cluster of 35 stars lies embedded in the nebulosity and causes the gases of the nebula to shine due to radiation from these hot, young stars.