Eagle Nebula
| Emission nebula | |
|---|---|
| A view of the "Spire" within M16, the Eagle Nebula.
A view of the "Spire" within | |
| Observation data: J2000.0 epoch | |
| Right ascension | 18h 18m 48s[1] |
| Declination | −13° 49′[1] |
| Distance | 7,000 ly ly |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | +6.0[1] |
| Apparent dimensions (V) | 7.0arcmins |
| Constellation | Serpens |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Radius | 70×55 ly (cluster 15 ly) ly |
| Absolute magnitude (V) | -8.21 |
| Notable features | 5.5 million years old |
| Designations | Messier 16, NGC 6611,[1] |
The Eagle Nebula (also known as Messier Object 16, M16 or NGC 6611), perhaps one of the most famous and easily recognized space objects, is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745-46. It is associated with a diffuse emission nebula, or H II region, which is catalogued as IC 4703. This region of active current star formation is about 7,000 light-years distant. The brightest star in the nebula has an apparent magnitude of 8.24, easily visible with good binoculars.
Images made in 1995 by the Hubble greatly improved our understanding of processes inside the nebula. Eagle nebula's region known as "Pillars of Creation" is a large region of star formation. Its small dark areas are believed to be protostars. The pillar structure of the region resembles that of another, much larger star formation region, imaged by Spitzer Space Telescope in 2005 in Cassiopeia, which is designated W5 and usually called "Mountains of Creation".[2]
Combination of an X-ray image from the Chandra observatory with Hubble's famous 'Pillars of Creation' image have shown that X-ray sources (from young stars) do not coincide with the pillars, instead randomly dotting the area.[1] This leads many astronomers to believe that star formation peaked approximately a million years ago in the Eagle Nebula and any protostars in the pillar EGGs are not yet hot enough to emit X-rays. A new star that formed is about the same mass as our sun along with forming in almost the same environment. Scientist believe that this star is very likely to be our Sun's baby twin.
In fiction
External links
References
- ^ a b c d "SIMBAD Astronomical Database". Results for NGC 6611. Retrieved 2006-11-16.
- ^ Spitzer Captures Cosmic "Mountains Of Creation"