The Eagle Nebula (M16)

The Eagle Nebula (M16, ngc6611, ic4703), a.k.a The Star Queen Nebula, is a cloud of gas and dust that lies at a distance of around 7000ly, in the Sagittarius Spiral Arm of the Galaxy. Visible to the naked eye from a reasonably dark site as a small, greyish-green patch of light in the constellation of Serpens, the designation M16 actually belongs to the cluster of stars associated with the nebula. The other designations, ngc6611 and ic4703 belong to the nebula proper. From its recorded distance, the nebula subtends an angular diameter of 7arcmins, or around 70x55ly. It shines at around 6.0mag but has an absolute luminosity of around -8.21mag (around 165000 solar luminosities). Famous for its pillars of dust and gas, which give the nebula its name, the most striking of which are known as the "Pillars of Creation", the eagle shaped clouds of gas and dust that are the nebula's most prominent feature. Another prominent spire of gas, which has the appearance of a group of angler fish, is around 9.5ly in length and lies in the NE part of the nebula. The Pillars are sites of star formation and several protostars have been seen within them. Bipolar jets coming from the nascent stars can be seen to puncture the pillars in various places, although none of the stars are hot enough to be emitting x-rays. Some x-ray sources have been detected, but these are from young, hot stars behind the pillars, further into the nebula. M16, the cluster itself, contains around 8100 stars, the hottest of which is HD168076, a binary star consisting of an O3.5V primary orbited by an O7.5V companion star. Both stars, along with the rest of the cluster and nebula, appear to be around 1-2 million years in age. The main star of the binary weighs in around 80 solar masses, is 1 million times as bright as the Sun, or at its distance, a magnitude of 8.21. Early evidence from the Spitzer Telescope seemed to indicate that the Pillars may have, in fact, been destroyed by a nearby supernova explosion, some 1000-2000 years ago. This meant the explosion actually happened between 8000-9000 years ago, at the nebula's distance. The slower shockwave of the explosion would've moved through the Pillars over a period of several thousand years, destroying them. However, a more detailed analysis using the Hubble, over a 20 year period, showed that the evaporation rate of the Pillars was far slower than previously thought and that a supernova blast most likely didn't occur in the area. Subsequently, its now believed that the Pillars will most likely last for at least another 100000 years. Which means, many more generations of bothe professional and amateur astronomers will get to see and enjoy them.

Pic was taken using t68 at the Bathurst Observatory (BAT-iTelescope Network), 11x120sec subs. I will be adding to this with more subs very shortly, so as to bring out more detail both in the nebula and the surrounding gas-dust clouds. It will also be part of a series of "bird portraits" with the addition of the Swan Nebula (M17) as part of the series.The final pic in the series will be "Two Birds and a Gorilla" (M16, M17 and B312, a nearby dark cloud).
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