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Credit & Copyright: Ignacio
Diaz Bobillo
Explanation:
A star cluster around 2 million years young surrounded by
natal clouds of dust and glowing gas,
M16 is also
known as The Eagle Nebula.
This beautifully detailed image
of the region adopts the colorful Hubble palette and includes
cosmic
sculptures made famous in
Hubble Space Telescope close-ups of the starforming complex.
Described as elephant trunks or
Pillars of Creation, dense,
dusty columns rising near the center are light-years in length but
are gravitationally contracting
to
form stars.
Energetic radiation from the cluster stars erodes material near
the tips, eventually exposing the embedded new stars.
Extending from the ridge of bright emission left of center
is another dusty starforming column known as the
Fairy
of Eagle Nebula.
M16 lies about 7,000 light-years away,
an easy target for binoculars or small telescopes in a
nebula rich part of the sky
toward the split constellation
Serpens Cauda
(the tail of the snake).
Watch:
Perseid Meteor
Shower
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: star formation - M 16
Publications with words: star formation - M 16
See also:
- NGC 1893 and the Tadpoles of IC 410
- Star Factory Messier 17
- APOD: 2023 August 28 Á Star Formation in the Pacman Nebula
- APOD: 2023 July 25 Á The Eagle Nebula with Xray Hot Stars
- APOD: 2023 July 10 Á Stars, Dust and Nebula in NGC 6559
- APOD: 2023 May 15 Á M16: Eagle Nebula Deep Field
- NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus