101 Must-See Cosmic Objects: The Eagle Nebula

Soaring through the summer Milky Way is one of the most recognizable nebulae in the entire sky: the Eagle Nebula. When photographed in full, this glowing red cloud of ionized hydrogen mixed with billowing clouds of opaque cosmic dust reminds many of a majestic bird in flight, with a wingspan extending across 21′.
The Eagle hatched from a star that exploded some 5.5 million years ago. Since then, it has evolved into a productive region of star formation, giving birth to more than 8,000 new stars,