Nebulae
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Starless Eagle Nebula and The Pillars of Creation (Hubble comparison)
This image shows the famous Pillars of Creation region of the bright Eagle Nebula (Messier 16) in Serpens.
Constructed from monochrome exposures in two very narrow wavelength bands of ionised Hydrogen and Oxygen, the data has been combined into a colour image to reveal this highly detailed and very dramatic scene. The bright colours are due to emission from the ionised gases, energised by light from nearby stars. The stars were removed during image processing to fully reveal the intricate structure of the nebula. Orange-red nebulosity corresponds to H-Alpha emission, and the blue areas are OIII.
The core area of the nebula was made famous in 1995 as the "Pillars of Creation" by images from the Hubble Space Telescope. The pillars are giant columns of gas and dust, approximately 9 light-years long, that are slowly being eroded away by intense radiation pressure from nearby young stars.
The nebula lies 6000 light-years distant in the Sagittarius arm of our Milky Way galaxy.
Image details:
Date: Sep-Nov 2021, June 2022
Exposure: Ha OIII: 450:690 mins, total 19 hours @ -25C
Telescope: Homebuilt 12.5" f/4 Serrurier Truss Newtonian
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon 3nm Ha/OIII
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand
