Hello all,
This is my second trial at M16, the first occured a few years ago when I was just getting started in AP. The famous Hubble image of the pillars is known to many - I wanted to see what I could do with my rig.
Messier 16 (in Serpens) is an interesting region of star formation (06 spectral type), and the newborn massive stars illuminate the core and the so-called pillars. This cloud of gas and dust looks like an Eagle, I suppose, and hence the name. A cluster of young stars sits in the pocket.
M 16 is found close to Scutum and Sagittarius. The Eagle Nebula is 7,000 lya in the Sagittarius-Carina spiral arm of our galaxy - the next arm inward from us. At this distance, the cluster's angular diameter corresponds to 15 light years. M 16's stellar swarm is only about 5.5 million years old. UV radiation from these massive young stars lights up the nebula's gas - glowing quite brightly.
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Taken at a new dark site only 60 km from the city. If one doesn't shoot to the west, you can avoid the city light bounce.
Thanks for looking!
Ian
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