Free Astronomy Magazine March-April 2015

SPACE CHRONICLES T he NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured many breathtaking images of the Universe, but one snapshot stands out from the rest: the Eagle Nebula’s Pillars of Creation. In 1995 Hubble’s iconic image revealed never-before- seen details in the giant columns and now the telescope is kickstart- ing its 25 th year in orbit with an even clearer, and more stunning, image of these beautiful structures. The three impressive towers of gas and dust captured in this image are part of the Eagle Nebula, otherwise known as Messier 16. Although such features are not uncommon in star- forming regions, the Messier 16 structures are by far the most pho- togenic and evocative ever captur- ed. The Hubble image of the pillars taken in 1995 is so popular that it has appeared in film and television, on tee-shirts and pillows, and even on postage stamps. Now Hubble has revisited the fa- mous pillars, capturing the multi-col- oured glow of gas clouds, wispy tendrils of dark cosmic dust, and the rust-coloured elephants’ trunks with the newer Wide Field Camera 3, installed in 2009. The visible-light image builds on one of the most iconic astronomy images ever taken and provides astronomers with an even sharper and wider view. Hubble captures the Pillars of Creation twenty years on by NASA T his image is a colour composite of the Eagle Nebula (M16) made from exposures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2). The field of view is approximatelly 3.8 x 3.3 de- grees. [ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2] In addition to this new visible-light image, Hubble has also produced a bonus image. This image is taken in infrared light, which penetrates much of the obscuring dust and gas and unveils a more unfamiliar view of the pillars, transforming them into wispy silhouettes set against a background peppered with stars. Here newborn stars, hidden in the visible-light view, can be seen form- ing within the pillars themselves. There is evidence to suggest that the Sun formed in a similar turbu- lent star-forming region to the one we see in this image. Although the original image was dubbed the "Pillars of Creation", this new image hints that they are also pillars of destruction. The dust and gas in these pillars is seared by