The Swan nebula, designated as M17, is a summer treat that is a very popular and strong nebula seen in most any telescope in the northern section of the constellation of Sagittarius. This photo shows a 1.4 degree section of the night sky where south is just to the right of straight up in this photo so that we see the very brightest part of the nebula coined as the 'Swan' facing to the left. The Swan part is just above center with the neck curving up and then to the left with a very dark spot to the left of the curved neck and the head pointing to the left above that dark spot. The full nebula is far larger than the swain and is mostly not detectable without a large telescope but the swan itself can be seen in most telescopes 4 inches in diameter or more.