"M16 - The Eagle Nebula (or, not a military rifle)"
So, last night, I went out and got my intended target from the night before. Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) in the world knows the Eagle Nebula, whether you know it by that name or not.
In 1995, NASA pointed a very young Hubble Space Telescope at the Eagle Nebula and produced one of the most iconic space images of all time. The region at the center of the nebula is known as the "Pillars of Creation", and is almost instantly recognizable by anyone on the planet (see here:
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1995/44/image/a/)
The Eagle Nebula lives approximately 7,000 light years from Earth. The pillars are massive....somewhere along the lines of 9.5 light years in length (like 90 TRILLION kilometers!!!!). They are very active in star formation. Studies from Hubble show that the dark globules visible on the HST images are actually places that stars are being born.
This nebula has always fascinated me. It's a gorgeous, haunting place in our universe....and one of my favorites!
NERDY DETAILS:
Sony A6000, ISO 3200
William Optics ZenithStar 71mm f5.9 short tube refractor
33 x1 minute exposures
Stacked in PixInsight
Edited in LR, Photoshop.
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