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M16 (NGC 6611)

Eagle Nebula

Typ:H II region nebula with cluster
Constellation:Serpens
Size:7'
Distance:7 kLj
Brightness:6 mag
Position:RA:18h 18m 48s DEC:−13° 49′
Max. height:26.18°, Jun. (midnight at +50°N)
Show in Stellarium
Discovered:Jean-Philippe Loys de Chéseaux, 1745
Details:Read more on Wikipedia

M16 is an interesting target in many aspects and first discovered in 1745 by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux. It took about two centuries and the availability of photographic astronomy that this is much more than an open star cluster.

The Eagle Nebula is in fact an active starforming region within a large region of Hydrogen-Alpha. It is the home of quite prominent "columns" of dust and molecular Hydrogen, which are better known as the Pillars of Creation after the Hubble Space Telescope took a colorful picture in 1995.

This image shows the full frame after a manual edit (580mm, ASI2600MM, LRGB 1h).