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SIG SAUER is offering an extremely limited number of authentic M17s originally issued by the U.S. Army and fielded during the initial domestic and in-theater deployment of the Modular Handgun System. These unique, one-of-a-kind firearms feature the original coyote controls, the original government-issue markings and serial numbers, along with the U.S. Army specified front and rear sights. As these were fielded by the U.S. Army their condition will vary, making each one uniquely different, and making this truly an opportunity to own a piece of history. The M17 Surplus handgun is a 9mm, striker-fired, P320-based handgun platform, featuring a coyote-tan...

The U.S. Army’s full-size XM17 MHS. Sig Sauer plans to sell a version of this pistol on the commercial market. (101st Airborne Division photo) A commercial version of the U.S. Army’s newest service pistol, the M17, will be sold by Sig Sauer starting next year, Military.com reported. “We are planning to do a limited release of about 5,000 of the Army variant of the M17 for the commercial market,” Tom Taylor, Sig Sauer’s chief marketing officer and executive vice president for commercial sales, told Military.com. “The timing is not finalized yet, but it looks to be late spring.” Taylor told...

Soldiers from the U.S. Army’s iconic 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, were the first to field the new M17 pistol this week. The era of the Beretta-made M9 for Army leaders is over with the introduction of Sig Sauer’s new Modular Handgun System. A select group of soldiers tested M17s on Monday. Roughly 2,000 pistols were inventoried and inspected prior to the demonstration.

Explanation: Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, the star factory known as Messier 17 lies some 5,500 light-years away in the nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius. At that distance, this 1/3 degree wide field of view spans over 30 light-years. The sharp composite, color image, highlights faint details of the region's gas and dust clouds against a backdrop of central Milky Way stars. Stellar winds and energetic light from hot, massive stars formed from M17 stock of cosmic gas and dust have slowly carved away at the remaining interstellar material producing the cavernous appearance and undulating shapes. M17 is also known as...

The Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down and called it an international crime which must be investigated by the international tribunal in the Hague. The Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, carrying 298 people, when it crashed in rebel-held territory on Thursday. The two sides in Ukraine's civil conflict have accused each other of shooting the jet down with a missile. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said that Ukraine bore responsibility for the tragedy.

The reported downing of a Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine that resulted in the deaths of 295 passengers was an “act of terror” and an “act of war,” according to the top Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Armed Services Committee. “The shooting down, if it’s true, of a passenger airliner is an act of terror,” New York Rep. Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Daily Beast. “It’s no different from the acts of terror Iran has been perpetrating for many years… The world community should get together and decide on...

Explanation: What's happening at the center of this nebula? Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, the star factory known as Messier 17 lies some 5,500 light-years away in the nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius. At that distance, this degree wide field of view spans almost 100 light-years. The sharp, composite, color image utilizing data from space and ground based telescopes, follows faint details of the region's gas and dust clouds against a backdrop of central Milky Way stars. Stellar winds and energetic light from hot, massive stars formed from M17's stock of cosmic gas and dust have slowly carved away at the...

Explanation: This fifteen degree wide field of view stretches across the crowded starfields of Sagittarius toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. In fact, the center of the galaxy lies near the right edge of the rich starscape and eleven bright star clusters and nebulae fall near the center of the frame. All eleven are numbered entries in the catalog compiled by 18th century cosmic tourist Charles Messier. Gaining celebrity status with skygazers, M8 (Lagoon), M16 (Eagle), M17 (Omega), and M20 (Trifid) show off the telltale reddish hues of emission nebulae associated with star forming regions. But also eye-catching...

Explanation: The Eagle Nebula and the Swan Nebula span this broad starscape, a telescopic view of the Sagittarius spiral arm toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The Eagle, also known as M16, is left, above center, and the Swan, or M17 at the lower right. The deep, wide-field image shows the cosmic clouds as brighter regions of active star-formation. They lie along the spiral arm suffused with reddish emission charactistic of atomic hydrogen gas, and dusty dark nebulae. In fact, the center of both nebulae are locations of well-known close-up images of star formation from the Hubble Space...

Explanation: Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, the star factory known as Messier 17 lies some 5,500 light-years away in the nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius. At that distance, this degree wide field of view spans almost 100 light-years. The sharp, composite, color image utilizing data from space and ground based telescopes, follows faint details of the region's gas and dust clouds against a backdrop of central Milky Way stars. Stellar winds and energetic light from hot, massive stars formed from M17's stock of cosmic gas and dust have slowly carved away at the remaining interstellar material producing the cavernous appearance and...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 August 21 X-Rays from M17 Credit: L. Townsley (PSU) et al., CXC, NASA Explanation: About 5,000 light-years away, toward the constellation Sagittarius and the center of our galaxy, lies the bright star forming region cataloged as M17. In visible light, M17's bowed and hollowed-out appearance has resulted in many popular names like the Horseshoe, Swan, Omega, and Lobster nebula. But what has sculpted this glowing gas cloud?...