This week’s pictures are of the Eagle Nebula (M16/NGC6611). This is a much-photographed object, especially since the amazing photographs were 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 using the OU COAST telescope and the Harvard NASA telescope using a variety of different filters and settings
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