M16, Eagle Nebula & Open Cluster
Pillars of Creation sub-image, Hubble 1995

Locating: Challenging
Identifying: Slightly Challenging

In Const: Serpens Cauda (Ser)
Best Observed: July to October
18.313hr -13.783°
Mag: 6   Size: 35' & 7'

KG Charts: A, P, S

    This is a high-resolution composite photograph from the central region of M16 Eagle nebula which happens to have a hole in it that lets us look inside. There is a very bright star inside the nebula and above this image.
    The pillars looked like this 7000 light years ago when they emitted the light we see now. They may have been destroyed, though, about 6000 years ago by a supernova shock wave.(See Wikipedia.)
    The left pillar is about 4 light years tall, which is about 4280 times the radius of Pluto's orbit around our sun, and a lineup of about 10²⁵ hydrogen atoms.
    The pillars consist of mostly hydrogen "dust" being pushed downward and away by the pressure of light from a very bright star above. What remains are regions of dense dust where stars are forming. These are the "fingers" on the edges of the pillars or the bright spots within the pillars.
    The three colors used to form this composite image come from three separate images of light emitted by three atoms: Hydrogen=green, Sulphur=red, Oxygen=blue