Right Ascension	18 : 18.8 (h:m)
Declination	-13 : 47 (deg:m)
Distance	7 (kly)
Visual Brightness	6.4 (mag)
Apparent Dimension	7.0 (arc min)
Discovered by	Philippe Loys de Cheseaux 1746

Lying some 7,000 light years distant in the constellation Serpens, and in the next inner spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy from us, a great cloud of interstellar gas and dust has entered a vivid process of star formation. Open star cluster M16 has formed from this great gaseous and dusty cloud, the diffuse Eagle Nebula IC 4703, which is now caused to shine by emission light, excited by the high-energy radiation of its massive hot, young stars. It is actually still in the process of forming new stars, this formation taking place near the dark "elephant trunks" which are well visible in our photograph.,

This stellar swarm is only about 5.5 million years old (according to the Sky Catalog 2000 and Götz) with star formation still active in the Eagle Nebula; this results in the presence of very hot young stars.

Messier observed M16 on June 3rd, 1764 "Cluster of faint stars, mingled with faint nebulosity..." Charles Messier from his Catalogue

Close by: M17, M18, M23, M24 and M25. Also H19 a 12th magnitude open cluster just 40' nw.

Courtesy www.seds.org