Astronomy Picture of the Day

The Fairy of Eagle Nebula


Bild Note: 0 (0 Votes)

⏴ previousBild Upload von 18.02.2016 21:43next ⏵
zorg.ch
#72642 by @ 26.04.2005 00:00 - nach oben -
The Fairy of Eagle Nebula


Explanation:
The dust sculptures of the Eagle Nebula are evaporating.

As powerful starlight whittles away these
cool cosmic mountains, the
statuesque pillars that remain
might be imagined as mythical beasts.

Pictured above is one of several striking
dust pillars
of the
Eagle Nebula that might be described as a gigantic alien
fairy.

This fairy, however, is ten
light years tall and spews radiation much hotter than
common fire.

The greater Eagle Nebula, M16,
is actually a giant evaporating shell of gas and
dust inside of which is a growing
cavity filled with a spectacular stellar nursery currently forming an
open cluster of stars.

The above image in scientifically re-assigned colors was
released
as part of the
fifteenth anniversary celebration of the
launch of the
Hubble Space Telescope.






Credit & Copyright