NGC 6611 (M16) - The Eagle Nebula, featuring the 'Pillars of Creation'. I'm relatively new to astrophotography and this is the first image I have ever entered in a competition. I wanted to capture this image after recently finding out that the Spitzer Space Telescope uncovered a cloud of dust in the vicinity of the Pillars of Creation that hypothetically could be a shock wave produced by a supernova. The appearance of the cloud suggests the supernova shockwave would have destroyed the Pillars of Creation 6,000 years ago. Given the distance of roughly 7,000 light-years between Earth and the Pillars of Creation, this would mean that they have actually already been destroyed, but because light travels at a finite speed, this destruction should be visible from Earth in about 1,000 years. Armed with this knowledge, I think it makes the image all the more special.
