The Swan Nebula (M17) glides through the early-morning sky.
High in the southern sky around 4 A.M. local daylight time is the stunning Swan Nebula (M17), also known as the Omega Nebula. It glides serenely through northern Sagittarius, far above the spout of the Teapot asterism as it sits right-side up in the sky this morning.
With no Moon above the horizon, if you’ve got a dark sky you might be able to spot this lovely nebula with binoculars — it glows at magnitude 6. It lies near the border that Sagittarius shares with Scutum and Serpens Cauda; look for M17 just 2.6° southwest of magnitude 4.5 Gamma (γ) Scuti.
Spanning some 11’, the Swan Nebula looks like its namesake, with a long flat “body” capped at one end by an arched “neck.” It may also appear a bit like the number 2 or even a checkmark, depending on your conditions and visual acuity. A telescope equipped with an OIII filter might help bring out the view. If you’ve got a large (8- or 10-inch) scope, you might be able to tease out a mirror-image extension of that curved neck, which turns the swan into the Greek letter Omega (Ω), hence the nebula’s other name.
Sunrise: 5:52 A.M.
Sunset: 8:02 P.M.
Moonrise: 4:30 P.M.
Moonset: 3:54 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (86%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 12 P.M. local time from the same location.
For a look ahead at more upcoming sky events, check out our full Sky This Week column.
