This beautiful and unusual view of the M16 nebula, also known as 'The Eagle', was built thanks to data collected by ESA's Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). It shows exactly what in the best known pictures of this famous nebula remains invisible: huge amounts of the cold dust that enshrouds newborn stars.

Building upon ISO's heritage, ESA's Herschel spacecraft, to study the Universe at infrared and sub-millimitre wavelenghts, will peer into the secrets of star formation with state-of-the-art technologies.