Friday, May 7, 2010

Astrophoto Friday: M16 the Eagle Nebula

Today's entry for Astrophoto Friday is Messier 16, the Eagle Nebula.

The photo was taken in 1965 with the 200-inch Hale Telescope. M16 is an emission nebula and associated open star cluster located about 7,000 light years distant in the direction of the constellation of Serpens.

1 comment:

James Guilford said...

Most of us didn't give M16 much thought until the Hubble Space Telescope team produced the amazing "Pillars of Creation" image. This Palomar view is spectacular in its own right. Thanks for posting it!