M17
Swan Nebula in Sagittarius

10.1″ f/4.5, Mallincam DS432cTEC with 0.5 focal reducer and Astronomik UHC filter
Exposure = 5-12-20 sec, Live Stacked frames = 20-30-20 (70 total), Gain = 25.54 of 250

Also known as the Swan Nebula, Checkmark Nebula, Lobster Nebula, and the Horseshoe Nebula, M17 is a rich star-forming H II region about 5000 light years away. In the eyepiece and initially when viewed with short exposures in the Mallincam, the checkmark or swan shape is very obvious and bright, about 13 arcminutes in length. In the image above, the nebula extends at least 40 arcminutes across. Two fainter wisps are visible to the right, these are IC 4707 and IC 4706. The bright star to the upper-right is HIP 89851, at magnitude 5.35.

North at 1 o’clock, East at 10 o’clock