Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2020 December 6

                        M16: Pillars of Star Creation
    Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Space Telescope, J. Hester, P. Scowen
                                    (ASU)

   Explanation: These dark pillars may look destructive, but they are
   creating stars. This pillar-capturing image of the inside of the Eagle
   Nebula, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, shows
   evaporating gaseous globules (EGGs) emerging from pillars of molecular
   hydrogen gas and dust. The giant pillars are light years in length and
   are so dense that interior gas contracts gravitationally to form stars.
   At each pillars' end, the intense radiation of bright young stars
   causes low density material to boil away, leaving stellar nurseries of
   dense EGGs exposed. The Eagle Nebula, associated with the open star
   cluster M16, lies about 7000 light years away. The pillars of creation
   have been imaged more recently in infrared light by Hubble, NASA's
   Spitzer Space Telescope, and ESA's Herschel Space Observatory --
   showing new detail.

                 Be Honest: Have you seen this image before?
                    Tomorrow's picture: mountain bubbles
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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