The Eagle Nebula (M16) is an emission nebula that glows due of the ultraviolet (UV) emission from hot stars in the open star cluster (NGC 6611). In the center of the nebula are three parallel columns that point towards the bright stars of the cluster. These are known as the "Pillars of Creation" that were made famous by a Hubble Space Telescope photograph created by Paul Scowen and Jeff Hester of the Arizona State University (ASU). The pillars were created by the UV emission from the hot stars eating away at the dust cloud. Higher density portions of the cloud are acting like cap stones preventing the dust behind them, from the point of view of the stars, from being eaten. I took this photograph under my very light polluted sky (Bortle 8-9) in my JaZ 2 Observatory.
Photographer: Rick Scott
Date / Time: August 8, 2020 from 8:38 to 10:10 PM MST
Telescope: home-made 10" f/4.6 Lurie-Houghton
Mount: Losmandy HGM Titan with Gemini 2
Guiding: ZWO 60280, ZWO ASI120MM Mini, PHD2
Camera: Canon EOS 60Da controlled with BackyardEOS
Filter: Optolong L-Pro
Exposure 42 x 60 sec, f/4.6, ISO 400 in raw mode
40 flats, 40 bias, 40 darks, and 40 dark-flats
Processed in Deep Sky Stacker (DSS) and Adobe Photoshop CS6.
Updated: August 18, 2020