Trifid Pillars and Jets
Explanation:
Dust pillars are like
interstellar mountains.
They survive because they are more dense than their
surroundings, but they are being slowly
eroded away by a hostile environment.
Visible in the featured picture is the end of a
huge gas and dust pillar in the
Trifid Nebula
(M20),
punctuated by a smaller pillar pointing up and an unusual
jet pointing to the left.
Many of the dots are newly formed low-mass stars.
A star near the small pillar's end is slowly being stripped of its
accreting gas
by radiation from a tremendously brighter star situated off the
top of the image.
The jet extends nearly a
light-year and would
not be visible without external illumination.
As gas and
dust evaporate from the pillars,
the hidden stellar source of this
jet will likely be uncovered,
possibly over the next 20,000 years.
Growing Gallery:
Notable images of the Great Conjunction submitted to APOD
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.
