M16: Pillars of Creation
Credit & Copyright: J. Hester, P. Scowen
(ASU),
HST,
NASA
Explanation:
It was one of the most
famous images
of the 1990s.
This image, taken with the
Hubble Space Telescope
in 1995, shows
evaporating gaseous globules (EGGs)
emerging from pillars of molecular
hydrogen gas and
dust.
The
giant pillars are
light years in length
and are so dense that interior gas
contracts gravitationally to form stars.
At each
pillars' end,
the intense radiation of bright young stars
causes low density material to boil away, leaving
stellar nurseries of dense
EGGs exposed.
The
Eagle Nebula, associated with the
open star cluster
M16, lies about 7000
light years away.
The
pillars
of creation
were
imaged again in 2007 by the orbiting
Spitzer Space Telescope
in infrared light, leading to the conjecture that
the pillars
may
already have been destroyed by a local supernova, but light
from that event has yet to reach the Earth.
Be Honest:
Have you seen this
image before?
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
