Famous for the Pillars of Creation — giant towers of gas and dust where brand-new stars are being born.
Also called: M16, the Pillars of Creation.
Star-forming nebula famous for the Pillars of Creation, towering columns where new stars are born.
Emission nebula: Gas lit up from inside by the young stars forming in it. Every kind of thing there is →
Look in the constellation Serpens.
Visible mainly from the both half of the world.
Star-hop: The cluster is an easy small-telescope target; the surrounding nebulosity needs dark skies and a filter.
Finding it: The central star cluster M16 sits in Serpens, near the Milky Way's brightest part.
The Planetarium works out where it actually is from your own place and the date — including whether it is above the horizon at all tonight.
A faint, ghostly glow — darker skies show much more.
Honest, not glamorous — why the pictures here are drawn.
On the 100-meter-track scale model of the Milky Way, the Eagle Nebula would be about 7 meters from the Sun. Light takes 7 thousand years to get here from the Eagle Nebula, so what you are looking at is the Eagle Nebula as it was 7 thousand years ago.
| Distance from us | 7,000 light-years |
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Nobody flew a tape measure out there. Every number on this page was worked out from the ground:
The Orion Nebulaemission nebulaNaked eyeThe Lagoon Nebulaemission nebulaNaked eye
The Milky Wayspiral galaxyNaked eye
Proxima CentauristarWith effortAlpha Centauri A & Bbinary star systemNaked eyeSiriusstarNaked eyeClear tonight? The Planetarium will show you what is worth a look. Then just go out.