Both the "Eagle" and the "Star Queen" refer to visual impressions of the dark silhouette near the center of the nebula,[4][5] an area made famous as the "Pillars of Creation" imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope.

A spire of gas that can be seen coming off the nebula in the northeastern part is approximately 9.5 light-years or about 90 trillion kilometers long.

[6] The cluster associated with the nebula has approximately 8100 stars, which are mostly concentrated in a gap in the molecular cloud to the north-west of the Pillars.

[5] Images produced by Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen using the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 greatly improved scientific understanding of processes inside the nebula.

[12] These columns – which resemble stalagmites protruding from the floor of a cavern – are composed of interstellar hydrogen gas and dust, which act as incubators for new stars.

[citation needed] Evidence from the Spitzer Space Telescope originally suggested that the pillars in M16 may be threatened by a "past supernova".