Photo of the Week for June 9, 2017

The Swan Nebula, also known as M17, resides within a rich swath of summer Milky Way in northern Sagittarius. The nebula can be seen in binoculars and is a delight in a small telescope, which reveals the swan (or “check-mark”) shape readily. In a larger instrument equipped with a narrow-band filter, some of the intricate detail and faint nebulosity shown in this superb image by Martin Palenik becomes visible.

Martin captured this portrait of the Swan at the Binbrook Conservation Area, located approximately 16 kilometres south of Hamilton, Ontario. For the final photo, he digitally combined 24, 480-second exposures shot at ISO 400 with a Nikon D5300 DSLR camera and Explore Scientific ED80mm f/6 apochromatic refractor telescope.