Originally Posted by
Syme
Well, remember that the Eagle Nebula itself is actually full of young stars; they are scattered all throughout the structure of the nebula. It is also very near a group of extremely bright, hot, massive stars called NGC 6611, which are partially responsible for the spectacular illumination effects that can be seen in some pictures of the nebula. Viewing the nebula from the right place and the right direction, a naked-eye observer could probably get a pretty well-lit view of it all. I couldn't say for sure, though.
Interestingly, it is the intense radiation flux and stellar wind from the stars in NGC 6611 that is believed to be responsible for forming those incredible pillar and tower structures in the gas clouds. The "heads" of the pillars are regions of dust/gas that are denser than the surrounding regions, and thus aren't dissipated as easily by the radiation; and the bodies or "stems" of the pillars are formed by gas/dust that is in the shadows of these dense regions and thus remain in place while the rest of the gas/dust around them blows away. Also interestingly, there is evidence that a supernova actually completely destroyed (blew away) the "Pillars of Creation" and many other distinctive Eagle Nebula features six thousand years ago, but we won't know for sure for another thousand years, since they're seven thousand light years away.
/astronomy ramble
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