Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Serpens (Ser)  ·  Contains:  Eagle nebula  ·  IC 4703  ·  M 16  ·  NGC 6611  ·  Sh2-49  ·  Star Queen nebula
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
The Eagle Nebula, Gabe Shaughnessy
Powered byPixInsight

The Eagle Nebula

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
The Eagle Nebula, Gabe Shaughnessy
Powered byPixInsight

The Eagle Nebula

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

The Eagle Nebula is an emission nebula in the constellation Serpens and lies some 7000 light years away, and has been popularized by the Hubble image of the "Pillars of Creation" near the Eagle's head. The nebula is associated with a young open star cluster containing some 8000 stars and lies between the dark molecular cloud and the Pillars. The Pillars are an area of very active star formation.

Evidence from the Spitzer Telescope suggests that the pillars in M16 may already have been destroyed by a supernova explosion. Hot gas observed by Spitzer in 2007 suggests that the area was disturbed by a supernova that exploded some 8,000 to 9,000 years ago. Due to the distance of the nebula, the light from the supernova would have reached Earth between 1,000 and 2,000 years ago. The more slowly moving shock wave from the supernova would have taken a few thousand years to move through the nebula and would blow away the delicate pillars – but the light showing us the destruction will not reach the Earth for another millennium.

Source: Wikipedia

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

The Eagle Nebula, Gabe Shaughnessy

In these collections

Nebulae