Mark Hanson, S. Mazlin, R. Parker ,W. Keller, T. Tse, P. Proulx, R. Vanderbei, M. Elvov; SSRO/PROMPT/CTIO
Messier 16, Eagle Nebula or "Pillars of Creation"
Messier 16 (M16), the famous Eagle Nebula, is a star-forming nebula with a young open star cluster located in the constellation Serpens.
The nebula is best known for the Pillars of Creation region, three large pillars of gas famously photographed by Hubble in 1995.
Also known as the Star Queen Nebula, M16 lies at a distance of 7,000 light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 6.0. The cluster’s designation in the New General Catalogue is NGC 6611, while the nebula is referred to as IC 4703.
The name Eagle comes from the nebula’s shape, which is said to resemble an eagle with outstretched wings. American astronomer Robert Burnham, Jr. introduced the name Star Queen Nebula because the nebula’s central pillar reminded him of a silhouette of the Star Queen.
Telescope: 16" RCOS, FLI 16803, Planewave 200HR
8 hours HA, 6hours O3 and 7 hours S2
"Processed from the 2016 archive at SSRO" CTIO, Chile
200% Crop