The Eagle Nebula (catalogued as Messier 16 or M16, and as NGC 6611, and also known as the Star Queen Nebula and The Spire) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens. Considered an emission nebula that is a 5.5 million-year-old cloud of molecular hydrogen gas and dust stretching approximately 70 light-years by 55 light-years

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".

A magnitude 6.2 high enough in the Southern Sky to see with binoculars in a dark space far from city lights.