Free Astronomy Magazine March-April 2015

SPACE CHRONICLES T his image shows the pillars as seen in infrared light, allowing it to pierce through ob- scuring dust and gas and unveil a more unfamiliar — but just as amazing — view of the pillars. In this ethereal view the entire frame is peppered with bright stars and baby stars are re- vealed being formed within the pillars themselves. The ghostly outlines of the pillars seem much more delicate, and are silhouetted against an eerie blue haze. Hubble also captured the pillars in visible light. The bottom video shows a 3-D exploration of the Eagle Nebula’s Pil- lars of Creation. [NASA, ESA/Hubble and the Hubble Heritage Team] contrast and clearer views of the re- gion. Astronomers can use these new images to study how the physi- cal structure of the pillars is chang- ing over time. The infrared image shows that the reason the pillars exist is because the very ends of them are dense, and they shad- ow the gas below them, creating the long, pillar-like struc- tures. The gas in be- tween the pillars has long since been blown away by the winds from a nearby star cluster. At the top edge of the left- are also the reason Hubble sees the structures at all. They radiate enough ultraviolet light to illuminate the area and make the clouds of oxygen, hydrogen and sulphur glow. Although structures like these exist throughout the Universe, the Pillars of Creation — at a distance of 6500 light-years away — provide the best, and most dramatic, example. Now, these images have allowed us to see them more clearly than ever, prov- ing that at 25 years of age, Hubble is still going strong. This image and the associated re- sults were presented at the 225 th meeting of the American Astro- nomical Society in Seattle, Washing- ton, USA. hand pillar, a gaseous fragment has been heated up and is flying away from the structure, highlighting the violent nature of star-forming re- gions. These massive stars may be slowly destroying the pillars but they n