... APOD: 2004 August 28- M17: A Hubble Close-Up . ... Credit Copyright: NASA , ESA , J. Hester ( ASU ) Explanation: Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, these fantastic, undulating shapes lie within the stellar nursery known as M17 , the Omega Nebula, some 5,500 light-years away in the nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius. The lumpy features in the dense cold gas and dust are illuminated by stars off the upper left of the image and may themselves represent sites of future star formation. ...