The Fairy of Eagle Nebula
Explanation:
The dust sculptures of the Eagle Nebula are evaporating.
As powerful starlight whittles away these
cool cosmic mountains, the
statuesque pillars that remain
might be imagined as
mythical beasts.
Featured here is one of
several striking
dust pillars of the
Eagle Nebula
that might be described as a gigantic alien
fairy.
This fairy, however, is ten
light years tall and spews radiation much hotter than
common fire.
The
greater Eagle Nebula, M16,
is actually a giant evaporating shell of gas and
dust inside of which is a growing
cavity filled with a spectacular stellar nursery currently forming an
open cluster of stars.
This great pillar, which is about 7,000 light years away, will
likely
evaporate away in about 100,000 years.
The featured image is in scientifically
re-assigned colors and
was taken by the Earth-orbiting
Hubble Space Telescope.
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.
