The Eagle Nebula, also known as M16, is a cluster of stars and an area of active star formation about 5,700 light-years from Earth. The Eagle Nebula is located in the constellation Serpens and covers an area of 70 by 55 light-years. These towering tendrils of cosmic dust and gas sit at the heart of M16. lt is the home to the iconic Pillars of Creation, made famous by an image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995. However, some scientists have theorized that a shock wave created by a star going supernova some 6,000 years ago may have erased the Pillars of Creation, and Earth-bound stargazers will only have another 500 years or so to observe the phenomena before they disappear.