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Observing Eagle Nebula (M16)
The Eagle Nebula is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation of Serpens. Alternatively, it is catalogued as Messier 16, M16, or NGC 6611, and sometimes referred to as the Star Queen Nebula.
What Eagle Nebula is
The Eagle Nebula is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation of Serpens. Alternatively, it is catalogued as Messier 16, M16, or NGC 6611, and sometimes referred to as the Star Queen Nebula. This cluster discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745-46. Both the "Eagle" and the "Star Queen" refer to visual impressions of the dark silhouette near the center of the nebula, an area made famous as the "Pillars of Creation" imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula contains several active star-forming gas and dust regions, including the aforementioned Pillars of Creation. The Eagle Nebula lies in the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way.
How to observe it
This target is within reach of a small telescope of 70 mm to 130 mm from a reasonably dark site. More aperture and darker skies show more of its structure.
It lies in the constellation Serpens. To find it, learn the constellation first, then star-hop from its brighter stars with a finder or a wide-field eyepiece before switching to more magnification.
Magnification is your telescope's focal length divided by your eyepiece's focal length. For an extended object like this, start low to frame it, then step up in power only if the object takes it. Use the Fit My Telescope tool to see the exact magnification, true field and exit pupil each of your eyepieces gives.
How it looks at the eyepiece
What you see at the eyepiece is fainter and less colourful than a photograph, because the eye takes in light in an instant while a camera builds it up over minutes. Expect a grey glow rather than the vivid colours of an image, and let your eyes dark-adapt for at least twenty minutes to see the most.
Frame it at low to medium power first with a wide true field, then step up the magnification only if the object stays sharp and the sky is steady. The Fit My Telescope tool shows the magnification, true field of view and exit pupil each of your eyepieces gives in your telescope, so you can pick the one that frames the object best.
The object in NASA imagery
NASA has imaged this object. One example in the NASA Image and Video Library is titled The Eagle Nebula Observed by WISE, from JPL.
The dusty face of the Eagle Nebula and its surroundings are revealed in this image based on data from NASA's Wide Field Survey Explorer (WISE). WISE detects infrared light, or a range of wavelengths longer than what the human eye can see.
NASA imagery is in the public domain. What you see through an eyepiece is fainter and mostly grey, since the eye does not accumulate light the way a long-exposure camera does, but knowing an object's true shape helps you recognise it at the telescope.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Object type | H II region |
| Constellation | Serpens |
| Apparent magnitude | 6.0 |
| Catalogue | Messier 16 (M16) |
Object data from Wikidata (CC0) and standard Messier catalogues.
What magnification suits M16?
Open the Fit My Telescope toolSee the true field and exit pupil each eyepiece givesFind telescope eyepiece on eBayaffiliateRelated
Sources: Eagle Nebula (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA) · Wikidata (CC0) · NASA Image and Video Library: PIA25433 (public domain)