The Eagle Nebula (M16) is an emission nebula in the constellation Serpens. It’s 7,000 light-years away and doesn’t even know I photographed it last night. Catching M16 photons in the sky is like catching tadpoles in the ocean, but with a harpoon instead of a fishing rod. The conditions are similar to city light pollution, streetlights in complete calm, and harmony all around. Within the Eagle Nebula lies a well-known region of active star formation—the Pillars of Creation. These are Hispanic gas and dust clumps of matter in which new worlds are born (you can even see a little of them in the photo). And perhaps stars and planets have already formed there, and later life itself. And someone like us is also photographing the Milky Way galaxy in an inability to stop a fit of spontaneous hedonism… #Astrohata – a holiday that is always with you)