Sorry it's been a week since I posted last been working third shift. I just took this photo this morning of Messier 17. This Nebula has many names among which are Omega Nebula, Swan Nebula, Lobster Nebula, Checkmark Nebula and The Horseshoe Nebula. I myself think Swan fits best. This is 15 images with my 8" Meade and my T3 at ISO1600 taken at 30" each image, with one Master Dark, One Master Flat and One Master Offset Bias, all stacked together with Deep Sky Stacker and processed in Gimp. I have alot to learn about processing yet but, that's part of the process.
   It is around 5,000 to 6,000 light years from Earth and has a diameter of about 15 Light Years. It is located in the Constellation of Sagittarius. It is embeded in a larger cloud that is around  40 light years in diameter. It was discovered in 1745 and catalogued in 1764. It was finally sketched in detail in 1833 by John Herschel, only to publish it in 1836. The Mass of this Nebula is about 800x more than our Sun.