The Swan Nebula, M17, is a great summertime object to observe through any telescope. In the eyepiece it really does look like a swan floating on the water. You normally won't see all the surrounding HII nebulosity but it's obvious there are some really strange processes at work in this nebula.
This image is a narrowband filter image that I took on Saturday night from the Astronomers Inn. It's mapped so that H-alpha = Red, OIII = Green, and SII = Blue. The color mapping makes a neat effect that causes the Swan part of the nebula to come out sort of yellowish-gold in color. Narrowband imaging generally produces false-color images but it can be useful in emphasizing certain nebula details.
Click Here to see a larger version of this image.
Today I received the two piers that will be installed in the soon-to-be-built Xanadu West. I can't wait to get that project going but it's likely to be a while until it's complete. The monsoons have started so even if it was ready to go, there would not be a lot of observing going on yet.
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