Open cluster M16

E103063

Open cluster M16, better known as the star cluster within the Eagle Nebula, is a young, bright group of stars famous for illuminating the "Pillars of Creation" region in the Milky Way.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Open cluster M16 canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Messier object
NGC object
astronomical object
open star cluster
age about 1–3 million years
young star cluster
alsoKnownAs Eagle Nebula
surface form: Eagle Nebula star cluster

M16
Messier 16
NGC 6611
angularSize about 7 arcminutes
apparentMagnitudeV about 6.0
appearsIn Hubble Space Telescope images
associatedWith Pillars of Creation
bestSeenIn binoculars under dark skies
small telescopes
cataloguedBy Charles Messier
contains many B-type stars
many O-type stars
massive young stars
pre-main-sequence stars
declination −13° 47′
discoveredBy Philippe Loys de Chéseaux
discoveryYear 1745–1746
distanceFromEarth about 2.0 kiloparsecs
about 7000 light-years
galacticLatitude +0.8° (approximate)
galacticLongitude 17° (approximate)
has central concentration of bright stars
illuminates Pillars of Creation
ionizes gas in the Eagle Nebula
is a site of active star formation
locatedIn Eagle Nebula
Milky Way
Sagittarius Arm
surface form: Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way

Serpens Cauda
constellation Serpens
messierNumber M16
ngcNumber NGC 6611
notableFor association with iconic Hubble images
illuminating the Eagle Nebula
observedIn X-ray wavelengths
infrared wavelengths
optical wavelengths
partOf Eagle Nebula
regionType H II region association
rightAscension 18h 18m
spectralTypeDominant O and B

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Orion Arm contains Open cluster M16