Po-ta-toes, Precious

Okay, excuses, but not apologies. I am leaving at 6 in the morning for Orange County, the Fun and Excitement Capitol of Southern California, and I wanted to get one last picture posted before leaving. So the stars are all shaped like taters; who cares about a little tracking error when you're in a hurry. At least it shows how much effort is required when I take pictures with ROUND stars.

This is M16, the Eagle Nebula-squint your eyes hard enough, and you might see an eagle's wings in flight, in a sort of "highly stylized, like a coin designer" manner. Or you might see the same shape as Eagle Rock near Los Angeles, which also requires that you lower your expectation of eagleness somewhat. So what-it's a very cool nebula, because it is the source of what is likely the most famous Hubble photos ever taken; ones that pretty much everyone is familiar with; the ones called the "Pillars of Creation".

Yeah, I know; this image is not nearly as inspiring. Hey, I did this in just a couple of hours, without ANY TAX DOLLARS at all. Let's see the Hubble boys make the same claim.

Next week I expect to shoot some better quality pics of this and nearby M17 as well. Stay tuned...