Eagle+Nebula

=**__THE EAGLE NEBULA**=__ http://www.daviddarling.info/images/Eagle_Nebula_spire.jpg The Eagle Nebula, would perhaps be one of the most fantastic and most recognized space objects, is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by **Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux** in 1745-46. This region of active current star formation is about 7,000 light-years distant. The brightest star in the nebula has a visual apparent magnitude of 8.24, easily visible with a good pair binoculars. Images captured in 1995 by the Hubble telescope greatly improved our understanding of processes inside the nebula. Eagle nebula's region known as "Pillars of Creation" is a large region of star formation. Its small dark areas are believed to be protostars. The pillar structure of the region resembles that of another, much larger star formation region, imaged by Spitzer Space Telescope in 2005 in Cassiopeia,the eagle nebula was usually called "Mountains of Creation".

Constantly new-born stars erupt from the nebula, in compact pockets of interstellar gas called evaporating gaseous globules.

About the Object

Object Name:	Eagle Nebula, M16

Object Description:	Nebula

Position (J2000):	R.A. 18h 18m 51.06s Dec. -13° 49' 51.11"

Constellation:	Serpens

Distance:	6,500 light-years (2,000 parsecs)

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