Eagle Nebula



The Eagle Nebula is an immense structure of columns or 
pillars of gas and dust located some 7000 lights years 
away toward the constellation Serpens. (The Eagle Nebula 
is also designated as M 16.) The Eagle Nebula is a site 
of new star formation. The pillars are concentrations of 
dense molecular gas, which are able to withstand the 
effects of the intense ultraviolet light emitted by 
newly-formed hot, massive stars, which are located off 
the upper left corner of the image. The knots and 
filaments on the surfaces of the pillars are formed as 
the surface of the pillars; heated by the hot 
stars; boils away. In this image, red shows light from 
singly-ionized Sulphur, green shows light from neutral 
Hydrogen, and blue shows light from doubly-ionized 
Oxygen.