Located in the constellation of Serpens the Serpent, the Eagle Nebula is a very luminous open cluster of stars surrounded by dust and gas. The three pillars at the center of the image, made famous by a Hubble Space Telescope image, are being sculpted by the intense radiation from the hot stars in the cluster.
T.A. Rector (NRAO / AUI / NSF and NOAO / AURA / NSF) and B.A. Wolpa (NOAO / AURA / NSF)