Messier 17 has several common names including the Swan Nebula, The Horseshoe Nebula, The Omega Nebula and the Lobster Nebula. It is about 4-5 thousand light years away, and about 40 light years in diameter. It has a mass of 800 times that of our Sun. It is considered one of the brightest and most massive star-forming regions of our galaxy. Its geometry is about the same as the Orion Nebula, except it’s seen edge on rather than face on. Processed with both narrowband and broadband data using the Hubble color palette. Green for Hydrogen Alpha, Blue for Oxygen III and Red for Sulpher II for the nebula, and broadband Red, Green and Blue for star color.
