M17

From South Dublin Astronomical Society

M17
Type	Emission nebula
NGC	NGC 6618
Constellation	Sagittarius
Right Ascension	18h 20.8m
Declination	-16° 11’
Magnitude	6
Size	11 arc min.
Image:M17 messier image.jpg

The Swan, or Omega, Nebula is a region of star birth 5,000 light years away that is lit by the hot, young suns forming within the gas cloud. Long exposure photographs show the typical pink-red glow of hydrogen gas excited to glow at a particular wavelength of light. The nebula is in the same low power binocular field as magnitude 4·6 Gamma Scuti but a better bet might be just to train your binoculars on the M24 star cloud and you’ll spot M17 towards the top of the field. What you should see is an east-west orientated grey “bar” of light with a stubby extension on the southwestern edge. Deep field images show the classical slender curved “neck” and “body” shape that give this nebula it’s nickname. A small group of stars is just off the northern edge while a magnitude 5·3 sun is just to the northwest.