Eagle Nebula (IC 4703) and M16 star cluster in the Snake - The dust lanes...

Eagle Nebula (IC 4703) and M16 star cluster in the Snake - The dust lanes in Messier 16 (NGC 6611) - Located in the Snake, this nebula is about 6000 years away from Earth. The M16 star cluster is a cluster of young stars formed about 2 million years ago in the Eagle nebula, IC 4703. These stars are much warmer than the Sun and can be 30 times more massive. Image made with Siding Spring's 3.9m telescope. There are few clearer examples anywhere of the intimate relationship between dust, gas and young stars than M16. We see a young cluster of stars (NGC 6611) which formed about 2 million years ago, illuminating a cloud of hydrogen gas. The gas is also dusty, and in places the dust is dense enough to prevent starlight from reaching the gas and making it glow with its distinctive red hue. The luminous hydrogen provides a vivid background against which are seen numerous dark lanes and discrete globules of dust. Many of the dusty clouds are edged with bright rims which indicate the direction of the exciting stars and point to the cluster as the energising source