Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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. 2019 August 10 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. M16 Close Up Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Ignacio Diaz Bobillo Explanation: A star cluster around 2 million years young surrounded by natal clouds of dust and glowing gas, [5]M16 is also known as The Eagle Nebula. [6]This beautifully detailed image of the region adopts the colorful Hubble palette and includes [7]cosmic sculptures made famous in Hubble Space Telescope close-ups of the starforming complex. Described as elephant trunks or [8]Pillars of Creation, dense, dusty columns rising near the center are light-years in length but are gravitationally contracting [9]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 [10]Fairy of Eagle Nebula. M16 lies about 7,000 light-years away, an easy target for binoculars or small telescopes in a [11]nebula rich part of the sky toward the split constellation [12]Serpens Cauda (the tail of the snake). Watch: [13]Perseid Meteor Shower Tomorrow's picture: bridge to the stars __________________________________________________________________ [14]< | [15]Archive | [16]Submissions | [17]Index | [18]Search | [19]Calendar | [20]RSS | [21]Education | [22]About APOD | [23]Discuss | [24]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [25]Robert Nemiroff ([26]MTU) & [27]Jerry Bonnell ([28]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [29]Specific rights apply. [30]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [31]ASD at [32]NASA / [33]GSFC & [34]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1908/M16_HSHO_crop2.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. http://www.pampaskies.com/gallery3/index.php 5. http://messier.seds.org/m/m016.html 6. http://www.pampaskies.com/gallery3/Hubble-Palette-Images/M16_HSHO_crop2 7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Nebula 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150107.html 9. http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/Bima/StarForm.html 10. http://heritage.stsci.edu/2005/12b/index.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130712.html 12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpens 13. https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-perseid-meteor-shower 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190809.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 18. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 23. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=190810 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190811.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 28. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 30. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 31. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/ 33. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 34. http://www.mtu.edu/