Inside the Eagle Nebula
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the
Day
From afar, the whole
thing looks like an Eagle.
A closer look at the Eagle
Nebula, however, shows the bright region is
actually a window into the center of a larger dark shell of dust.
Through this window, a
brightly-lit workshop
appears where a whole open cluster of
stars is being formed. In this cavity tall pillars and round globules of dark
dust and cold molecular
gas remain where stars are still forming.
Already visible are
several young bright
blue stars whose light and winds are burning away and pushing back the remaining filaments and
walls of gas and dust.
The Eagle emission nebula,
tagged M16, lies about 6500 light
years away, spans about 20 light-years, and is visible with binoculars toward
the constellation of
the Serpent (Serpens).
This picture combines
three specific emitted colors and was taken with the 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak, Arizona, USA.
