Been working on this off and on for a few days and finally got an edit I don't mind sharing. This is the Eagle Nebula, or Messier Object M16. The first shot is a very tight crop so the stars are just a little bloated and the noise is more noticeable, but I wanted to expose the detail in the core of the nebula. The core was the subject of one of the most famous Hubble shots ever, often called the Pillars of Creation. I've rotated the cropped photo so the 'pillars' are oriented more like the NASA version. I'll put a NASA link at the end of the post. I used to have that photo as a screen saver.
I had no idea until recently that one could capture a glimpse of this, however tiny and faint, with modest equipment. My telescope is small and has an effective focal length roughly half that of the lens Thomas uses for his amazing eagle captures.
30 or so 5 minute exposures were stacked to obtain enough detail to process the image. Camera is a Canon 7D. ISO 1600. The telescope f4.6.
Click for the large version. Not much to see if you are using a phone to view.
I've included the full frame in the second image - it's what the camear really saw before the crop and rotation. The nebula on the left is the Omega Nebula.
Here's a
link to NASA's photo.