7 mind-blowing images of Eagle nebula captured by NASA

The Eagle Nebula (M16) is a star-forming region in the Milky Way galaxy. It's home to the famous "Pillars of Creation" and is located in the constellation Serpens. 

The Eagle Nebula is a giant evaporating shell of gas and dust and it is about 7,000 light-years from Earth.

The Eagle Nebula can be spotted through a small telescope. The Hubble Space Telescope first imaged the Pillars of Creation in 1995. 

With an apparent magnitude of 6, the star cluster in the Eagle Nebula can be spotted through a small telescope and is best viewed during August.

Three towers of gas and dust, standing light-years tall, are giving birth to new stars, buried within their dusty spires.

These towering tendrils of cosmic dust and gas sit at the heart of Messier 16, or the Eagle Nebula. The aptly named Pillars of Creation, featured in this stunning Hubble image, are part of an active star-forming region 

M16 is the collective name for two distinct objects that are listed separately in astronomical catalogues: an emission nebula, referred to as IC 4703, and an open star cluster, designated as NGC 6611.

Credit: NASA