                        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.

                               2022 August 12

                        Portrait of the Eagle Nebula
                 Image Credit & Copyright: Charles Bonafilia

   Explanation: A star cluster around 2 million years young surrounded by
   natal clouds of dust and glowing gas, Messier 16 (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). As
   framed, this telescopic portrait of the Eagle Nebula is about 70
   light-years across.

                 Tomorrow's picture: small moon, big crater
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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