Eagle Nebula (M16)

The Eagle Nebula M16. It’s called that because somebody thought the dark shapes in the center looked like an eagle taking flight.  Does it look like that to you?

The central part might seem familiar to some of you; it was made famous in a Hubble image dubbed “Pillars of Creation”:

That’s a closeup of the central region (rotated 45 deg counterclockwise).

[20″ CDK f/6.8 with FLI PL09000 camera @ Mt. Teide Observatory, Canary Islands, Spain]