Robby
27th February 2008, 08:51 PM
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0802/m16_lopez.jpg (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0802/m16_lopez_big.jpg)
The Eagle Nebula in Hydrogen Oxygen, and Sulfur
Credit & Copyright: IAC (http://www.iac.es/index.php?lang=en), Daniel Lopez ( dlp at iac dot es)
Explanation: Bright blue stars are still forming in the dark pillar (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010812.html)s of the Eagle Nebula (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060226.html). Made famous by a picture (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011125.html) from the Hubble Space Telescope (http://www.stsci.edu/hst/HST_overview/) in 1995, the Eagle Nebula (http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m016.html) shows the dramatic process of star formation. The above picture (http://www.iac.es/telescopes/IAM/Ene08_ing.html) taken by a 0.8-meter telescope (http://www.iac.es/telescopes/iac80/iac80.htm) in the Canary Islands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_Islands) captures part of M16, the open cluster (http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/clusters/open.html) of stars that is being created. The high amount of detail in the above image results from it being taken only in specific colors of light emitted by hydrogen (http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/1.html), oxygen (http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/8.html), and sulfur (http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/16.html). The bright blue stars of M16 (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2002ApJ...565L..25S) have been continually forming over the past 5 million years, most recently in the famous central gas and dust (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010914.html) columns that have been informally dubbed the Pillars of Creation (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070218.html) and the Fairy (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071209.html). Light takes about 7,000 years to reach us from M16 (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020103.html), which spans about 20 light years (http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html) and can be seen (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990911.html) with binoculars toward the constellation of the Serpent (Serpens (http://www.astronomical.org/portal/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=76)).
(Via NASA (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080227.html))
The Eagle Nebula in Hydrogen Oxygen, and Sulfur
Credit & Copyright: IAC (http://www.iac.es/index.php?lang=en), Daniel Lopez ( dlp at iac dot es)
Explanation: Bright blue stars are still forming in the dark pillar (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010812.html)s of the Eagle Nebula (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060226.html). Made famous by a picture (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011125.html) from the Hubble Space Telescope (http://www.stsci.edu/hst/HST_overview/) in 1995, the Eagle Nebula (http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m016.html) shows the dramatic process of star formation. The above picture (http://www.iac.es/telescopes/IAM/Ene08_ing.html) taken by a 0.8-meter telescope (http://www.iac.es/telescopes/iac80/iac80.htm) in the Canary Islands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_Islands) captures part of M16, the open cluster (http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/clusters/open.html) of stars that is being created. The high amount of detail in the above image results from it being taken only in specific colors of light emitted by hydrogen (http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/1.html), oxygen (http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/8.html), and sulfur (http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/16.html). The bright blue stars of M16 (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2002ApJ...565L..25S) have been continually forming over the past 5 million years, most recently in the famous central gas and dust (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010914.html) columns that have been informally dubbed the Pillars of Creation (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070218.html) and the Fairy (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071209.html). Light takes about 7,000 years to reach us from M16 (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020103.html), which spans about 20 light years (http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html) and can be seen (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990911.html) with binoculars toward the constellation of the Serpent (Serpens (http://www.astronomical.org/portal/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=76)).
(Via NASA (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080227.html))