Messier 16 - The Eagle Nebula

Object Information:: Messer 16 (NGC 6611 and IC 4703), Eagle Nebula; Constellation - Serpens Cauda; Distance - 7,000 light years,; Estimated age - 5.5 million years old.; This object is a combination of an emission nebula and open cluster. The open cluster, designated as NGC 6611, was first described by Philippe Loys de Cheseaux in 1745-6. The nebulosity, designated as IC 4703, was first described by Charles Messier in 1764.; The Eagle Nebula is located in the next inner spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy and is believed to be about 7,000 light years distant.; This area is known to be an area of active star formation. The long finger-shaped objects in the the image [also called "elephant trunks"] are massive columns of cold gas that extend from a vast cloud of molecular hydrogen. Inside these light-years-long columns the interstellar gas is dense enough to collapse under its own weight and is in the process of forming new stars. The emission nebula shines as a result of the radiation from the bright stars of NGC 6611.; Follow this link to a series of Hubble Space Telescope images and information on the Eagle Nebula.; The top image is a high resolution image taken through a red filter to highlight the elephant trunk structures in the center of the nebula. The bottom image is a reduced resolution color image showing the open cluster and surrounding nebulosity.

Imaged at:: Mt. Laguna, San Diego County, California.; July 5-6, 2008

Equipment:: Optics - RC Optical Systems 10" Ritchey-Chretien at f/9; Mount - Astro-Physics 1200 GTO,; Camera - Santa Barbara Instrument Group (SBIG) ST-10XME CCD,

Exposure Information:: Luminance - Combination of twenty-four 6 minute red-filtered sub exposures.; Color - A 2005 RGB image consisting of 50 minutes per channel.