| A summertime favorite
M16, also known as the Eagle Nebula, is an emission nebula buried in
the summer Milky Way. According to Wikipedia
- The Eagle Nebula (cataloged as Messier 16 or M16, and as NGC 6611,
and also known as the Star Queen Nebula and The Spire) is a young open
cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by
Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745–46. Both the "Eagle" and the "Star
Queen" refer to visual impressions of the dark silhouette near the
center of the nebula, an area made famous as the "Pillars of Creation"
imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula contains several
active star-forming gas and dust regions, including the aforementioned
Pillars of Creation. The Eagle Nebula lies in the Sagittarius Arm of
the Milky Way. Click on the image to see a higher resolution version and click again to return to this page. |
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