Chandra Release - July 12, 2018

Visual Description: The Eagle Nebula (M16)

The image showcases the iconic Eagle Nebula (or M16), which is a star-forming region in the Milky Way galaxy. The dominant colors in the image are shades of blue, green, burnished gold and pink. Key structures include multiple tall pillars of gas and dust, which are visible in the center of the image. They look similar to fingers. These pillars are sometimes called elephant trunks due to their resemblance to the trunks of elephants. Surrounding the pillars are hundreds of gleaming multicolored dots. This composite image shows the region that was nicknamed the Pillars of Creation, which are about 5,700 light years from Earth. The image combines X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope optical data. The optical image, taken with filters to emphasize the interstellar gas and dust, shows the dusty brown nebula immersed in a blue-green haze, and a few stars that appear as pink dots in the image. The Chandra data reveal X-rays from hot outer atmospheres from stars. In this image, low, medium, and high-energy X-rays detected by Chandra have been colored red, green, and blue.