M16: The Eagle Nebula
By Mike Barrett
The Eagle Nebula is located in the constellation Serpens and is one
of the most iconic star forming regions in our galaxy. The nebula is
also known as Messier 16 or M16 in the catalog of celestial nebulas
and star clusters compiled by French Astronomer Charles Messier.
This is probably one of the most famous and inspirational nebulas as it
was the subject of one of the foremost space images produced by NASA’s
Hubble Telescope: The Pillars of Creation. The Pillars of creation is a small
part in the center of the nebula that contains star forming hydrogen and
dust. I, for one, was introduced to astronomy by this image as I am sure
were many others. The Hubble Telescope created inspirational images
encouraging thousands of people to look at the night skies in a different way.
The image of the Pillars also introduced the concept of the “Hubble
Palette” where different parts of the nebula’s emission spectrum imaged
in narrowband are assigned to the red, green and blue channels which
make up a normal image. Compare the Pillars of Creation image
to the full nebula which was taken using normal RGB. The hydrogen
gases can be seen to dominate the main picture, whereas the sodium
and oxygen bring out different details in the Pillars of Creation.
Above: Inside the Eagle Nebula stand the Pillars of Creation portrayed in the Hubble Palette as captured by
the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/ESA/STScI/J. Hester and P. Scowen (Arizona State University)
Right: M16, the Eagle Nebula, captured in RGB. Credit: ESO
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