This visualization of the three-dimensional structure of the Pillars of Creation within the star formation region Messier 16 (also called the Eagle Nebula) is based on new observations of the object using the MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile.
ESO/M. Kornmesser
Hubble at 25: The Space Telescope by the Numbers: Photos
View Caption +
Image: The Hubble Space Telescope hangs above Earth in this photo taken by a NASA astronaut during one of the Hubble Servicing Missions. Source
NASA (edit by Ian O'Neill/Discovery News).
View Caption +
Image: This famous observation of the Carina Nebula, located 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina, shows a beautiful and dramatic star-forming region. The image celebrated the 20th anniversary of Hubble's launch and deployment into an orbit around Earth in 2010. Source
NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI) (edit by Ian O'Neill/Discovery News).
View Caption +
Image: NASA astronaut Michael Good, STS-125 mission specialist, is seen from an aft flight deck window on the Space Shuttle Atlantis during the mission's second session of extravehicular activity (EVA) during the 2009 Hubble servicing mission. Fellow NASA astronaut Megan McArthur's reflection is also in shot. Source
NASA (edit by Ian O'Neill/Discovery News).
View Caption +
Image: This observation by Hubble shows a new view of an old classic: The Horsehead Nebula. Souce
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) (edit by Ian O'Neill/Discovery News).
View Caption +
Image: The dazzling Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), one of the Milky Way's closest galactic neighbors, dazzles in this detailed observation by Hubble. Source
NASA, ESA, CXC and the University of Potsdam, JPL-Caltech, and STScI (edit by Ian O'Neill/Discovery News).
View Caption +
Image: This close-up, visible-light view by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveals new details in the Ring Nebula. Source
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration (edit by Ian O'Neill/Discovery News).
View Caption +
Image: A view of the Hubble Space Telescope orbiting over South America. Source MORE: Hubble at 25: Brief History of the Hubble Space Telescope
NASA (edit by Ian O'Neill/Discovery News).
For the first time, astronomers have added a new 3-dimensional perspective to the Hubble Space Telescope’s dazzling viewof the Eagle Nebula’s famous “Pillars of Creation.”
Using the MUSE instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, the Eagle Nebula was studied in unprecedented detail, bringing a new perspective to the Pillars — large columns of dust and gas cocooning young stars sparking to life.
These young O and B-class stars are pumping out powerful ultraviolet radiation, destroying the remaining wisps of gas and dust, blasting out cavities in the material and carving the tell-tale shape of the Pillars of Creation that were first imaged in detail by the Hubble Space Telescope some 20 years ago.
MUSE has now added some depth to the Pillars, showing that the left pillar is facing us, but located behind NGC 6611 — a star cluster within the Eagle Nebula. The other pillars are located in front of NGC 6611. The tip of the left pillar is bearing the brunt of the powerful radiation from NGC 6611′s young stars, causing it to glow bright in reflected light. The tips of the other three pillars are facing away from us and are therefore darker.
Within the pillars are dense knots of gas, the locations of protostars in the process of being born.
Using observations such as this ESO view into the Eagle Nebula, scientists hope to better understand how O and B-class stars influence the production of subsequent stars within the nebula in which they themselves had been spawned. The intense radiation and powerful stellar winds can compress the remaining gas, correlling it to accumulate and spark new star formation. But they also destroy the star-foming material inside the nebula, hindering further star birth.
Which process dominates can transform the future landscapes of star-forming nebulae like the Pillars of Creation, so understanding their formative years by creating a 3-D look deep inside these clouds should help us better model the mechnics of stellar evolution.
This color view was created from observations of the Pillars of Creation made with the MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The parts of the three-dimensional MUSE data cube that correspond to emission from different chemical elements in the clouds have been extracted and combined to create this color view of the region.
ESO
“By measuring the Pillars of Creation’s rate of evaporation, MUSE has given astronomers a time frame for when the pillars will be no more. They shed about 70 times the mass of the sun every million years or so. Based on their present mass of about 200 times that of the sun, the Pillars of Creation have an expected lifetime of perhaps three million more years — an eyeblink in cosmic time. It seems that an equally apt name for these iconic cosmic columns might be the Pillars of Destruction.” — ESO press release
Source: ESO