A portrait of the Eagle (top) and Swan Nebulas, aka Messier 16 and Messier 17, on the border of Sagittarius and Serpens. M16 contains the famous "Pillars of Creation."

Below M17 is the sparse star cluster M18. Above M16 is the small star cluster Trumpler 32. The separate patch of nebulosity to the right of M17 is IC 4706. The dim nebula below left of M16 is Sharpless 2-48; the smaller bit of nebulosity upper right of M17 is Sharpless 2-47; the diffuse area of nebulosity below right of M17 is Sharpless 2-44. Dust obscures much of this field and yellows the star clouds.

The field is 4.7° x 3.1°.

This is a stack of 10 x 6-minute exposures with the Astro-Tech 90CFT refractor with its 0.8x Reducer/Flattener for f/4.8, and the filter-modified Canon EOS R at ISO 800. Shot on a very clear night from home September 15, 2023, making it possible to shoot this field low in my south and late in the season for this area. No filter employed other than a UV/IR Cut filter. No darks applied, just dithering with the Lacerta MGEN III autoguider and camera controller to eliminate hot pixels when stacking and aligning.

Nebulosity enhanced with Curves adjustment layers, the Nebula Filter action in PhotoKemi actions, and Detail Extractor filter in Nik Collection Color EFX, all selectively applied with luminosity masks created by Lumenzia and TK Actions.