by Anthony Ayiomamitis
NGC 6611 is more commonly referred to as the Eagle Nebula and a 1995 photo by the Hubble Space Telescope involving a small region at its core has become one of the most famous and most-recognized results ever produced by the HST. More specifically, the 1995 photo involving "The Pillars of Creation" depicts star formation with rich evidence of many protostars being in the immediate vicinity. This large expanse of H-II emission lies approximately 6500 light-years away in the constellation of Serpens and spans another 75 light-years across. Similar to other emission nebulae, an open cluster is also associated with the Eagle Nebula and which is embedded within the nebulosity while spanning 15 light-years across and with an apparent diameter of 7 arc-minutes. The open cluster within the Eagle Nebula (NGC 6611) was first discovered by Philippe Loys de Cheseaux in 1745 while the nebula (IC 4703) itself by Messier in 1764.
Technical Details:
Date: July 09-10, 2010 @ 22:45 - 01:15 UT+3
Location: Athens, Greece (38.2997° N, 23.7430° E)
Equipment: Takahashi FSQ-106/f5, AP 1200GTO GEM, SBIG ST-10XME, SBIG CFW10, Baader 7 nm Ha, SBIG LRGB filters
Integrations: HaRGB @ 50:30:30:30 using 6-/10-min subs, 1x1 binning, 2.65"/pixel, -12.5d C
Further details are available here.