M16: Stars from Eagle's EGGs
Newborn stars are forming in the Eagle Nebula.
This image, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, shows
evaporating gaseous globules (EGGs)
emerging from pillars of molecular
hydrogen gas and
dust.
The giant pillars are
light years in length
and are so dense that interior gas contracts gravitationally to form stars.
At each pillars' end,
the intense radiation of bright young stars
causes low density material to boil away, leaving
stellar nurseries of dense
EGGs exposed.
The
Eagle Nebula, associated with the
open star cluster
M16, lies about 7000
light years away.