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Pillars of Creation

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This article is about the astrophotograph. For the fantasy novel by Terry Goodkind, see The Pillars of Creation.
The "Pillars of Creation" from the Eagle Nebula.

Pillars of Creation refers to a photograph taken by the Hubble Telescope of elephant trunks of interstellar gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula, some 7,000 light years from Earth.[1] Taken April 1, 1995, it was named one of the top ten photographs from the Hubble by Space.com.[2] The astronomers responsible for the photo were Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen, at the time both of Arizona State University. In 2011, the region was revisited by ESA's Herschel Space Observatory.

Composition

The pillars are composed of cool molecular hydrogen and dust that are being eroded away by photoevaporation from the ultraviolet light of relatively close and hot stars. The leftmost pillar is about four light years in length.[3] The finger-like protrusions at the top of the clouds are larger than our solar system, and are made visible by the shadows of Evaporating Gaseous Globules (EGGs), which shields the gas behind them from intense UV flux.[4] EGGs are themselves incubators of new stars.[5]

Destruction

The Pillars of Creation no longer exist. In 2007, astronomers announced that they were destroyed about 6,000 years ago by the shock wave from a supernova.[6] Because of the limited speed of light, the shock wave's approach to the pillars can currently be seen from Earth, but their actual destruction will not be visible for another millennium.[6]

Hubble's photo

Hubble's photo of the pillars is composed of 32 different images[7] from four separate cameras[8] in the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 on board Hubble.[9] The photograph was made with light emitted by different elements in the cloud and appears as a different colour in the composite image: green for hydrogen, red for singly ionized sulphur and blue for double-ionized oxygen atoms.[10]

The missing part of the picture at the top right corner originates from the fact that one of the four cameras has a magnified view of its portion, which allows astronomers to see finer detail. Thus the images from this camera are scaled down in size proportionally to match the other three cameras.[8]

Herschel's photo

In 2011 Herschel Space Observatory captured a new image of Pillars of Creation in far-infrared wavelengths, which allows astronomers to look inside the pillars and structures in the region, and come to a much fuller understanding of the creative and destructive forces inside the Eagle nebula.[11]

References

  1. ^ Clavin, Whitney. "'Elephant Trunks' in Space". Retrieved March 9, 2011.
  2. ^ Best Hubble Space telescope images from Space.com. [archived copy]
  3. ^ "NOVA | Origins | The Pillars of Creation image 1". PBS. Retrieved 2012-02-13.
  4. ^ "The Birth of Stars". Csep10.phys.utk.edu. Retrieved 2012-02-13.
  5. ^ "A Stunning View Inside an Incubator for Stars - New York Times". Nytimes.com. 1995-11-03. Retrieved 2012-02-13.
  6. ^ a b Lovett, Richard. "Photo in the News: Supernova Destroys "Pillars of Creation"". Retrieved March 13, 2011.
  7. ^ "NOVA | Origins | The Pillars of Creation image 3". PBS. Retrieved 2012-02-13.
  8. ^ a b "NOVA | Origins | The Pillars of Creation image 2". PBS. Retrieved 2012-02-13.
  9. ^ "NOVA | Origins | The Pillars of Creation image 1". PBS. 1995-04-01. Retrieved 2012-02-13.
  10. ^ Embryonic Stars Emerge from Interstellar "Eggs", Hubble news release
  11. ^ "Revisiting the 'Pillars of Creation'". NASA. 2012-01-18. Retrieved 2012-01-20.

Media related to Pillars of Creation at Wikimedia Commons

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