The Eagle Nebula, M16

The Eagle Nebula, M16, is a cluster of stars and an area of active star formation about 5,700 light years from Earth. It is located in the constellation of Serpens and covers an area of 70 x 55 light years.

It is home to the iconic Pillars of Creation, made famous by an image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995.

The distinctive structure of the pillars is created by a nearby cluster of massive stars called NGC 6611. Along with visible light, these stars shed huge amounts of charged particles, which clears dust and gas away. The dense areas of gas called evaporating gaseous globules shielded the area behind them from this solar wind leading to the formation of the pillar structures. 

A similar structure is seen in this image on the left hand side, referred to as the ‘Stellar Spire’. The cold, mostly hydrogen gas of the nebula has already fuelled the formation of a series of young, hot stars.

See close up images of Pillars of Creation and Stellar Spire