Todays pictures are of the Eagle Nebula (M16/NGC6611). This is a much photographed object especially since the amazing photographs taken by the Hubble telescope (see http://hubblesite.org/gallery/tours/tour-m16/ ).
The Eagle Nebula is 6,500 light years from Earth and about 9,5 light years across. It has several active star forming regions.
The photogenic nature of the nebula has led it to appear in films and on TV. In well known series it appeared in an episode of Star Trek Voyager and as the background to the final battle between the Alliance and the Shadows in Babylon 5
These photos were taken with the Harvard NASA telescope or the Bradford Robotic telescope.
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