Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2019 November 15
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                          M16 and the Eagle Nebula
                 Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Martin Pugh

   Explanation: A star cluster around 2 million years young surrounded by
   natal clouds of dust and glowing gas, [5]M16 is also known as The Eagle
   Nebula. [6]This beautifully detailed portrait of the region was made
   with groundbased narrow and broadband image data. It includes [7]cosmic
   sculptures made famous in Hubble Space Telescope close-ups of the
   starforming complex. Described as elephant trunks or [8]Pillars of
   Creation, dense, dusty columns rising near the center are light-years
   in length but are gravitationally contracting [9]to form stars.
   Energetic radiation from the cluster stars erodes material near the
   tips, eventually exposing the embedded new stars. Extending from the
   ridge of bright emission at lower left is another dusty starforming
   column known as the [10]Fairy of Eagle Nebula. M16 lies about 7,000
   light-years away, an easy target for binoculars or small telescopes in
   a [11]nebula rich part of the sky toward the split constellation
   [12]Serpens Cauda (the tail of the snake).

                Tomorrow's picture: star streams and galaxies
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([27]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [28]Specific rights apply.
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                A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC
                           & [33]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1911/M16_HaSynLumLumRGB.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.martinpughastrophotography.space/
   5. http://messier.seds.org/m/m016.html
   6. https://www.martinpughastrophotography.space/m16
   7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Nebula
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150107.html
   9. http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/Bima/StarForm.html
  10. http://heritage.stsci.edu/2005/12b/index.html
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130712.html
  12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpens
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191114.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=191115
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191116.html
  24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  33. http://www.mtu.edu/