Building a towering cosmic icon may be as easy as blowing bubbles. Simulations of the billowing wind from a massive star may reveal how the famous "pillars of creation" were created. The finger-like columns of interstellar gas and dust known as the pillars of creation are part of the Eagle Nebula, a star-forming region about 7000 light years away from Earth. A spectacular image snapped by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 catapulted the pillars to stardom. The dense columns of gas are being sculpted and eroded by ultraviolet radiation from the incredibly massive stars that live in the nebula. Detailed images from multiple telescopes also show dense clumps inside the pillars that suggest new stars are being born. Read more
Messier 16 (also M16, The Eagle Nebula, IC 4703 and NGC 6611), is a magnitude ++6.0 emission nebula surrounding a young open star cluster located approximately 7,000 light-years away in the constellation Serpens. The star forming region is positioned on the Sagittarius-Carina Arm, the inner spiral arm of the Milky Way. The cluster consists mostly of young stars belonging to the O and B spectral classes. The binary star HD 168076, at magnitude +8.24, is the brightest star in the cluster, and consists of an O3.5V star and an O7.5V companion. Small telescopes, or binoculars, reveal about 20 stars and the surrounding nebulosity.
The star cluster was discovered by the Swiss astronomer Philippe Loys de Chéseaux in 1745/46. The French astronomer Charles Messier was the first to discover the nebulosity surrounding the cluster on the 3rd June 1764.
Right Ascension 18h 18m 48s, Declination -13° 47' 54"
Title: Chandra/ACIS-I study of the X-ray properties of the NGC 6611 and M16 stellar population Authors: M. G. Guarcello, M. Caramazza, G. Micela, S. Sciortino, J. J. Drake, L. Prisinzano
Mechanisms regulating the origin of X-rays in YSOs and the correlation with their evolutionary stage are under debate. Studies of the X-ray properties in young clusters allow to understand these mechanisms. One ideal target for this analysis is the Eagle Nebula (M16), with its central cluster NGC6611. At 1750 pc from the Sun, it harbours 93 OB stars, together with a population of low-mass stars from embedded protostars to disk-less Class III objects, with age <= 3Myrs. We study an archival 78 ksec Chandra/ACIS-I observation of NGC6611, and two new 80ksec observations of the outer region of M16, one centred on the Column V, and one on a region of the molecular cloud with ongoing star-formation. We detect 1755 point sources, with 1183 candidate cluster members (219 disk-bearing and 964 disk-less). We study the global X-ray properties of M16 and compare them with those of the Orion Nebula Cluster. We also compare the level of X-ray emission of Class II and Class III stars, and analyse the X-ray spectral properties of OB stars. Our study supports the lower level of X-ray activity for the disk-bearing stars with respect to the disk-less members. The X-ray Luminosity Function (XLF) of M16 is similar to that of Orion, supporting the universality of the XLF in young clusters. 85% of the O stars of NGC6611 have been detected in X-rays. With only one possible exception, they show soft spectra with no hard component, indicating that mechanisms for the production of hard X-ray emission in O stars are not operating in NGC 6611.
Europe's Herschel space telescope has produced a majestic new version of a classic astronomical target - the Eagle Nebula (also called M16). This dense region of gas and dust some 6,500 light-years from Earth hosts copious numbers of bright new stars. Radiation from these objects is sculpting the clouds of gas and dust, producing in places great columns and curtains of material. Read more
The Eagle Nebula as never seen before. In 1995, the Hubble Space Telescope's 'Pillars of Creation' image of the Eagle Nebula became one of the most iconic images of the 20th century. Now, two of ESA's orbiting observatories have shed new light on this enigmatic star-forming region.
Title: Tracing the Energetics and Evolution of Dust with Spitzer: a Chapter in the History of the Eagle Nebula Authors: N. Flagey, F. Boulanger, A. Noriega-Crespo, R. Paladini, T. Montmerle, S.J. Carey, M. Gagné, S. Shenoy
The Spitzer GLIMPSE and MIPSGAL surveys have revealed a wealth of details of the Galactic plane. We use them to study the energetics and dust properties of M16, one of the best known SFR. We present MIPSGAL observations of M16 at 24 and 70 \mu m and combine them with previous IR data. The MIR image shows a shell inside the molecular borders of the nebula. The morphologies at 24 and 70 \mu m are different, and its colour ratio is unusually warm. The FIR image resembles the one at 8 \mu m that enhances the molecular cloud. We measure IR SEDs within the shell and the PDRs. We use the DUSTEM model to fit the SEDs and constrain dust temperature, dust size distribution, and ISRF intensity relative to that provided by the star cluster NGC6611. Within the PDRs, the dust temperature, the dust size distribution, and the ISRF intensity are in agreement with expectations. Within the shell, the dust is hotter and an ISRF larger than that provided by NGC6611 is required. We quantify two solutions. (1) The size distribution of the dust in the shell is not that of interstellar dust. (2) The dust emission arises from a hot plasma where UV and collisions with electrons contribute to the heating. We suggest two interpretations for the shell. (1) The shell matter is supplied by photo-evaporative flows arising from dense gas exposed to ionised radiation. The flows renew the shell matter as it is pushed by the stellar winds. Within this scenario, we conclude that massive SFR such as M16 have a major impact on the carbon dust size distribution. The grinding of the carbon dust could result from shattering in collisions within shocks driven by the interaction between the winds and the shell. (2) We consider a scenario where the shell is a SNR. We would be witnessing a specific time in the evolution of the SNR where the plasma pressure and temperature would be such that the SNR cools through dust emission.
Herschel has peered inside an unseen stellar nursery and revealed surprising amounts of activity. Some 700 newly-forming stars are estimated to be crowded into filaments of dust stretching through the image. The image is the first new release of 'OSHI', ESA's Online Showcase of Herschel Images.
This image shows a dark cloud 1000 light-years away in the constellation Aquila, the Eagle. It covers an area 65 light-years across and is so shrouded in dust that no previous infrared satellite has been able to see into it. Now, thanks to Herschel's superior sensitivity at the longest wavelengths of the infrared, astronomers have their first picture of the interior of this cloud.
Today ESO has released a new and stunning image of the sky around the Eagle Nebula, a stellar nursery where infant star clusters carve out monster columns of dust and gas. Located 7000 light-years away, towards the constellation of Serpens (the Snake), the Eagle Nebula is a dazzling stellar nursery, a region of gas and dust where young stars are currently being formed and where a cluster of massive, hot stars, NGC 6611, has just been born. The powerful light and strong winds from these massive new arrivals are shaping light-year long pillars, seen in the image partly silhouetted against the bright background of the nebula. The nebula itself has a shape vaguely reminiscent of an eagle, with the central pillars being the "talons".