M16 - Open Cluster in Serpens
An open cluster associated with the Eagle Nebula (IC 4703), a fascinating nebula whose dark pillars have been imaged by the Hubble Telescope and shown to be in the process of star formation.


  • RA: 18:19
  • Dec: -13:47
  • Size: 7.0'
  • Magnitude: 6.4
  • Distance: 7000 ly
  • Constellation: Serpens
  • Millennium Star Atlas: Vol. III, pp. 1344
  • Scope: 12.5" Ritchey-Chretien at f/9
  • Autoguider: unguided
  • Sky conditions: excellent seeing, good transparency.
  • Film: FLI Dream Machine CCD
  • Exposure: 14x30 seconds L, 5x60 seconds R,G,B
  • Date: 6-23-01


Meteor Trail?
A possible chance meteor trail captured during the luminance frame imaging of M16.

I got lucky on this whole affair in more ways than one. Clouds threatened to shut the whole affair down earlier in the evening but finally cleared by about midnight. Also, during the course of taking the luminance frame series, a possible chance meteor strike zipped right through the fifth frame. It seemed to be in an odd direction but later that evening, yet another meteor zoomed overhead from SW to NE proving we weren't imagining it. However, plotting satellite tracks demonstrates that this could potentially be the track of a geosynchronous satellite. None of the databases from Celestrak.com provided a match but this area of the sky is littered with that type of satellite and with trails present at the 1:50 am time this frame was shot.


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