PHOTOGRAPH #209 · nebulae
Pillars of Creation, M16- The Eagle Nebula
Randal Healey · Utahopia Observatory
The Pillars of Creation are famous pillars of gas and dust found in one of the several star-forming regions of the Eagle Nebula, Messier 16.
The region was named after a photograph taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on April 1, 1995. The stars formed in this region have surface temperatures exceeding 30,000 degrees Celsius while they are on the main sequence. In comparison, the Sun’s temperature is only about 5,500 degrees. The young stars in M16 are a source of strong stellar wind and intense ultraviolet light that shapes and gradually erodes the gas and dust structures in the region.
The tallest pillar, to the left of the image, is roughly 4 light years high, while the protrusions seen at the top of the clouds that form the pillars are larger in size than our entire solar system.
Original description & acquisition details ↗The region was named after a photograph taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on April 1, 1995. The stars formed in this region have surface temperatures exceeding 30,000 degrees Celsius while they are on the main sequence. In comparison, the Sun’s temperature is only about 5,500 degrees. The young stars in M16 are a source of strong stellar wind and intense ultraviolet light that shapes and gradually erodes the gas and dust structures in the region.
The tallest pillar, to the left of the image, is roughly 4 light years high, while the protrusions seen at the top of the clouds that form the pillars are larger in size than our entire solar system.
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