  M16=NGC 6611, the Eagle Nebula, is a well studied region of star formation
and the source of a widely recognized Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image. High
spatial resolution infrared observations with the Near Infrared Camera and
Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) on HST reveal the detailed morphology of two
embedded star formation regions that are heavily obscured at optical
wavelengths. It is striking that only limited portions of the visually obscured
areas are opaque at 2.2 microns. Although the optical images imply substantial
columns of material, the infrared images show only isolated clumps of dense gas
and dust. Rather than being an active factory of star production, only a few
regions are capable of sustaining current star formation. Most of the volume in
the columns may be molecular gas and dust, protected by capstones of dense
dust.
  Two active regions of star formation are located at the tips of the optical
northern and central large ``elephant trunk'' features shown in the WFPC2
images. They are embedded in two capstones of infrared opaque material that
contains and trails behind the sources. Although the presence of these sources
was evident in previous observations at the same and longer wavelengths, the
NICMOS images provide a high resolution picture of their morphology. Two bright
stars appear at the tip of the southern column and may be the result of recent
star formation at the top of that column. These observations suggest that the
epoch of star formation in M16 may be near its endpoint.
