Gas pillars in the Eagle Nebula. Hubble Space Telescope image showing dark pillars of dense molecular hydrogen and dust in the Eagle Nebula (M16). These columns are in fact cool interstellar hydrogen gas and dust that act as incubators for new stars. Inside them and on their surface astronomers have found knots or globules of denser gas. These are called EGGs (an acronym for Evaporating Gaseous Globules). Inside at least some of the EGGs stars being formed. The Eagle Nebula is about 7000 light years from Earth in the constellation Serpens.