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| The Eagle Nebula is an immense structure of columns or pillars of gas and dust located some 7000 lights years away toward the constellation Serpens. (The Eagle Nebula is also designated as M 16.) The Eagle Nebula is a site of new star formation. The pillars are concentrations of dense molecular gas, which are able to withstand the effects of the intense ultraviolet light emitted by newly-formed hot, massive stars, which are located off the upper left corner of the image. The knots and filaments on the surfaces of the pillars are formed as the surface of the pillars––heated by the hot stars––boils away. In this image, red shows light from singly-ionized Sulphur, green shows light from neutral Hydrogen, and blue shows light from doubly-ionized Oxygen. |
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