Sharpless 2-54

High-Res

Object: Sharpless 2-54

Sharpless 2-54 is a HII region located about 15 arc-minutes north of M16, the Eagle Nebula. It lies at a distance of 6200 light-years from Earth and encompasses some interesting dark features, a sparse open cluster NGC 6604 (left of center in upper third of image), and a bright nebular knot known as MI-88, named for the American astronomer Rudolf Minkowski.

This two-pane mosaic is a collaborative work between Howard Hedlund of Astro-Physics, Inc. and Dave Jurasevich, with a total exposure time of 10 hours.