These images by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveal how different the iconic Pillars of Creation appear in visible and in near-infrared light.
In the visible-light image at left, astronomers combined several exposures to show a wider view of the pillars and the surrounding region. The towering pillars are about 5 light-years tall. The tenuous-looking base of the columns is shown.
The near-infrared image at right transforms the pillars into eerie, wispy silhouettes, which are seen against a background of myriad stars. The near-infrared light can penetrate much of the gas and dust, revealing stars behind the nebula as well as hidden away inside the pillars. Some of the gas and dust clouds are so dense that even the near-infrared light cannot penetrate them. New stars embedded in the tops of the pillars, however, are apparent as bright sources that are unseen in the visible image.
The ghostly bluish haze around the dense edges of the pillars is material getting heated up by the intense ultraviolet radiation from a cluster of young, massive stars and evaporating away into space. The stellar grouping is above the pillars and cannot be seen in the image. At the top edge of the left-hand pillar, a gaseous fragment has been heated up and is flying away from the structure, underscoring the violent nature of star-forming regions.
Both images were taken with Hubble's versatile Wide Field Camera 3. For the near-infrared image, astronomers used filters that isolate the light from newly formed stars, which are invisible in the visible-light image. At these wavelengths, astronomers are seeing through the pillars and even through the back wall of the nebula cavity and can see the next generations of stars just as they're starting to emerge from their formative nursery. In the visible-light image, oxygen is represented in blue, sulfur in orange, and hydrogen and nitrogen in green.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | M16, Eagle Nebula, NGC 6611 |
| Object Description | Emission Nebula |
| R.A. Position | 18h 18m 48.17s |
| Dec. Position | -13° 48' 26.03" |
| Constellation | Serpens |
| Distance | 6,500 light-years (2,000 parsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | Data of M16 were obtained from the HST proposal , P.I. Z. Levay, J. Mack, C. Christian, L. Frattare, M. Livio, S. Meyett, M. Mutchler, and J. Sokol (STScI/AURA), and K. Noll (NASA/GSFC). |
| Instrument | HST>WFC3/UVIS (left) and HST>WFC3/IR (right) |
| Exposure Dates | September 2014 |
| Filters | WFC3/UVIS: F502N ([O III]), F657N (H-alpha + [N II]), and F673N ([S II]) WFC3/IR: F110W (YJ) and F160W (H) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | These images are composites of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample broad and narrow wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: WFC3/UVIS Image of M16: Blue: F502N ([O III]) Green: F657N (Hα + [N II]) Red: F673N ([S II]) WFC3/IR Image of M16: Blue: F110W (YJ) Yellow: F160W (H) |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
