Hemel Hempstead stargazer captures image of Eagle Nebula

A man from Hemel Hempstead has shared a picture of the Eagle Nebula that he took from his garden.

Richard Blackshaw, who built an observatory in his back garden during lockdown, captured this image of the Eagle Nebula with the famous Pillars of Creation in the centre.

The keen stargazer took the image on Wednesday, July 14.

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 Cauda.

Richard said: "It's fantastic to see it appear on your laptop screen when you first take a picture.

"Knowing that you have captured it well makes you feel good and I never cease to marvel at these structures - the central bit (Pillars of Creation), each column being a trillion miles long!

"It's very difficult to see in our light polluted skies, practically invisible. You do need a large aperture telescope to see it and it will be a just a small cloudy patch.

"It's prominent in July from the UK."