The Eagle Nebula Unveiled by the Spitzer/MIPSGAL Survey

We report the discovery of structured diffuse infrared emission in MIPSGAL 24 microns Spitzer images of the Eagle Nebula that fills the wind-blown cavity of this massive star forming region. We combine the Spitzer data with ISO and MSX observations to present a spectral energy distribution of this emission and compare it to that of the famous Pillars of Creation. The SED peaks at 24 microns, tracing hotter dust than within the surrounding photo-dissociation regions (PDRs). We show that the emission from the Pillars of Creation is well reproduced by our dust model of PDRs powered by the NGC 6611 cluster radiation field while the inside shell requires an order of magnitude higher incident energy. We suggest several interpretations to explain such a discrepancy.