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messier 16 widefield

 

The Eagle Nebula, shown here, is a sprawling area of glowing gas and dust surrounding the relatively young open star cluster known as M 16. Being associated with a huge star-forming region designated as Serpens OB1, the vastness of this object can only be realized on widefield images such as the one above. Located near the center of the nebula is the dramatic "Pillars of Creation", which is an area of great interest made famous by the narrowband Hubble Space Telescope image of 1995. More on this particular subject can be foundby clicking here. Many dark globules of dense matter (Bok globules) can be found throughout the brighter portions of the nebulosity, including the tiny feature known as Wesselius 705 located just left of the bright pair of stars near the cluster's center. Also of great interest are the several small but conspicuously blue reflection nebulae located throughout the field. One in particular is located around a 10th magnitude star just to the upper left of the "pillars" area. The peculiar red feature resembling a "turkey neck" to the immediate right of the main nebula is known as Simeis 189. Image taken with homemade 8-inch f/5.4 astrograph and SBIG STL-11000XM. LRGB image composed of 40 minutes each R,G,B and synthetic L channel. Click on the above image for the high resolution version.