View allAll Photos Tagged pillarsofcreation
I was messing around with this image of raindrops on the ends of some tree-fern fronds, turning it around from its normal position and it suddenly reminded me of something. On checking some images from NASA on Wikipedia, I found the image it reminded me of. The iconic Pillars Of Creation image from the Hubble telescope back in 1995. Okay, it is only vaguely like it, but the overall layout struck me as fairly similar. So, I did a little more cropping and altering the colours a little too and came up with this.
In a way, these are mini pillars of creation as the fronds are heavily laden with spores and each frond has a life giving drop of water on the end.
Here is a link to the Wikipedia image en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillars_of_Creation#/media/File:Eag...
Happy Slider Sunday!
M16 The Eagle Nebula with the pillars of creation in the centre. This shot is a combination of 2 x nights this august and 2 x nights from last year all combined together in Astro Pixel Processor software. Roughly just over 2 hours of data from 4 x different sessions.
The Eagle Nebula (catalogued as Messier 16 or M16, and as NGC 6611, and also known as the Star Queen Nebula and The Spire) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Chéseaux in 1745-46. Both the "Eagle" and the "Star Queen" refer to visual impressions of the dark silhouette near the centre of the nebula, an area made famous as the "Pillars of Creation" photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula contains several active star-forming gas and dust regions, including the Pillars of Creation.
This region of active current star formation is about 7000 light-years distant. A spire of gas that can be seen coming off the nebula is approximately 9.5 light-years or about 90 trillion kilometres long.
Details
M: Mesu 200
T: ODK10
C: QSI683 with 3nm Astrodon Ha filter
28x1800s in Ha and 16x1800s in OIII
Total exposure 22 hours
I've always thought that good subjects are worthy of another visit and I was especially interested to try out processing with narrowband image data. A while ago, I shared my results from this same Eagle Nebula and more recently, I was able to try again only with narrowband images from a high quality 20" telescope. So in addition to shooting with filters that target broadband colors (red, green, and blue, I also got narrowband wavelengths that target Ha (Hydrogen Alpha), Oiii (Oxygen III), and Sii (Sulphur II).
I liked that the additional color detail helped to separate the Pillars of Creation from the blue nebula clouds behind it. This version seems to have a lot more detail and depth in the clouds. It's interesting that this image is smaller in terms of resolution but the quality of the color data is much improved in my view. I look forward to learning more about shooting narrowband when I can.
Calibrated images of Eagle Nebula were provided by iTelescope.net. In addition to providing access to their telescopes, iTelescope.net provides subscribing members with a combination of premium image sets (with the rights to use & post them) and webinars that show how to process them. Itelescope.net captured the images and I did the post-processing with Astro Pixel Processor, Photoshop, and Topaz Sharpen and DeNoise AI.
Exposure Settings
• 18 broadband images with 5 minutes exposures (6 red, 6 green & 6 blue)
• 9 narrowband images with 30 minute exposures (3 Ha, 3 Oiii, and 3 Sii)
• Total Exposure Time: 360 minutes
M16, Eagle Nebula with its Pillars of Creation. The Eagle Nebula lies in the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way, about 7,000 light-years away.
Esprit 120, QHY268M SkyWatcher EQ6R pro mount
The Eagle Nebula (M16) and the Omega Nebula (M17) are two iconic star-forming regions located in the constellation Serpens and Sagittarius, respectively. Both lie in the same rich region of the Milky Way and are separated by just a few degrees in the sky—making it possible to capture both in a single wide-field frame.
M16 (Eagle Nebula) is about 7,000 light-years away and is best known for the "Pillars of Creation," towering columns of gas and dust imaged famously by Hubble. This nebula spans roughly 70 light-years and is an active stellar nursery teeming with young, hot stars that sculpt the surrounding gas.
M17 (Omega/Swan/Nebula) lies slightly farther away at about 5,500 light-years and is one of the brightest and most massive H II regions in our galaxy. It spans roughly 15 light-years across and glows intensely due to ionization from its embedded young stars.
Raptor 61, FL 275, ZWO2600M, Optolong SHO, ASIAir Plus, AM5 mount
22 hrs integration, Bortle 1-2 Arizona
The Eagle Nebula is located in the constellation Serpens, 6,500-7000 light years away, and stretches approximately 70 by 55 light years. It is formed around a star cluster that is around 2 million years young. The nebula itself is a 5.5 million year old cloud of dust and molecular hydrogen gas, and is thought to contain several star forming regions.
Phillippe Loys de Cheseaux discovered the Eagle Nebula in the mid 18th century. But his original description was only the cluster of stars. Charles Messier independently rediscovered it in 1764 as part of his catalogue, giving it the catchy name of M16.
Located in the top left hand side of the image, there is an incredible looking structure known as the Stellar Spire. It is roughly 9.5 light years long. Cosmic sea horse?
Enjoy this amazing view while you can as both the Spire and the Pillars in the Eagle Nebula are already likely to be gone. 8500 years ago, a supernova explosion created massive shock waves moving through the nebula. This process would have taken thousands of years to sweep through the region, in the end, destroying the delicate structures that we can see today.
If you access to a fairly modest low powered telescope, or even with a pair of binoculars, you will be able to view this nebula from a dark location. You should be able to see around twenty stars, surrounded by gas and dust.
Instruments Used:
Telescope: RC10 (RCOS)
Camera:STL-11000 (SBIG)
Mount:AP900 (Astro-Physics)
Filters: Ha 7nm, SII 8.0 nm, OIII 8.5 nm (Baader Planetarium)
Image Details:
Resolution:0.804 arcsec/pix
Focal length: 2309.84 mm (9.1)
Pixel size:9.00 um
Image processing with CCDStack and Photoshop.
Terry
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope's mid-infrared view of the Pillars of Creation strikes a chilling tone. Thousands of stars that exist in this region disappear from view — and seemingly endless layers of gas and dust become the centrepiece.
The detection of dust by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) is extremely important — dust is a major ingredient for star formation. Many stars are actively forming in these dense blue-grey pillars. When knots of gas and dust with sufficient mass form in these regions, they begin to collapse under their own gravitational attraction, slowly heat up, and eventually form new stars.
Although the stars appear to be missing, they aren’t. Stars typically do not emit much mid-infrared light. Instead, they are easiest to detect in ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light. In this MIRI view, two types of stars can be identified. The stars at the end of the thick, dusty pillars have recently eroded most of the more distant material surrounding them but they can be seen in mid-infrared light because they are still surrounded by cloaks of dust. In contrast, blue tones indicate stars that are older and have shed most of their gas and dust.
Mid-infrared light also details dense regions of gas and dust. The red region toward the top, which forms a delicate V shape, is where the dust is both diffuse and cooler. And although it may seem like the scene clears toward the bottom left of this view, the darkest grey areas are where densest and coolest regions of dust lie. Notice that there are many fewer stars and no background galaxies popping into view.
Webb’s mid-infrared data will help researchers determine exactly how much dust is in this region — and what it’s made of. These details will make models of the Pillars of Creation far more precise. Over time, we will begin to understand more clearly how stars form and burst out of these dusty clouds over millions of years.
Contrast this view with Webb’s near-infrared light image.
MIRI was contributed by ESA and NASA, with the instrument designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona.
Image Description: Semi-opaque layers of blue and grey gas and dust start at the bottom left and rise toward the top right. There are three prominent pillars. The left pillar is the largest and widest. The peaks of the second and third pillars are set off in darker shades of blue outlines. Few red stars appear within the pillars. Some blue and white stars dot the overall scene.
Download more versions of this image.
Credit:
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. DePasquale (STScI), A. Pagan (STScI); CC BY 4.0
This is not an ethereal landscape of time-forgotten tombs. Nor are these soot-tinged fingers reaching out. These pillars, flush with gas and dust, enshroud stars that are slowly forming over many millennia. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has snapped this eerie, extremely dusty view of the Pillars of Creation in mid-infrared light – showing us a new view of a familiar landscape.
Why does mid-infrared light set such a somber, chilling mood in Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) image? Interstellar dust cloaks the scene. And while mid-infrared light specializes in detailing where dust is, the stars aren’t bright enough at these wavelengths to appear. Instead, these looming, leaden-hued pillars of gas and dust gleam at their edges, hinting at the activity within.
Thousands and thousands of stars have formed in this region. This is made plain when examining Webb’s recent Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) image. In MIRI’s view, the majority of the stars appear missing. Why? Many newly formed stars are no longer surrounded by enough dust to be detected in mid-infrared light. Instead, MIRI observes young stars that have not yet cast off their dusty “cloaks.” These are the crimson orbs toward the fringes of the pillars. In contrast, the blue stars that dot the scene are aging, which means they have shed most of their layers of gas and dust.
Mid-infrared light excels at observing gas and dust in extreme detail. This is also unmistakable throughout the background. The densest areas of dust are the darkest shades of gray. The red region toward the top, which forms an uncanny V, like an owl with outstretched wings, is where the dust is diffuse and cooler. Notice that no background galaxies make an appearance – the interstellar medium in the densest part of the Milky Way’s disk is too swollen with gas and dust to allow their distant light to penetrate.
How vast is this landscape? Trace the topmost pillar, landing on the bright red star jutting out of its lower edge like a broomstick. This star and its dusty shroud are larger than the size of our entire solar system.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
#NASA #STScI #jwst #jameswebbspacetelescope #NASAGoddard #NASAMarshall #PillarsOfCreation
The Eagle Nebula (catalogued as Messier 16 or M16, and as NGC 6611, and also known as the Star Queen Nebula) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745–46. Both the "Eagle" and the "Star Queen" refer to visual impressions of the dark silhouette near the center of the nebula, an area made famous as the "Pillars of Creation" imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula contains several active star-forming gas and dust regions, including the aforementioned Pillars of Creation. The Eagle Nebula lies in the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way.
Equipment:
Celestron EdgeHD800, ZWO ASI2600MM, EAF, EFW, ASIAIR, AM5
Antlia 3nm SHO Pro filters
Pixinsight, Photoshop
English below
Un ritaglio di M16 in HOO per evidenziare i Pilastri della Creazione
A cutout of M16 in HOO to highlight the Pillars of Creation
Located at about 5700 LY from Earth in the constellation Serpens, the Eagle Nebula is a huge stellar nursery brimming with active star formation. At its core, the famous Pillars of Creation, made famous by Hubble's groundbreaking photo, span several light years and contain thousands of protostars.
- TECH DATA -
Scope: Sky-Watcher Quattro 250P @ f/4
Mount: Celestron CGX
Camera: ZWO ASI 1600MC-Pro
Autoguider: Orion Mini Guide Scope + SSAG
Ha: 50 x 2 min exposures
RGB: 168 x 2 min exposures
Shot at the L&A County Dark Sky Viewing Area near Erinsville, Ontario
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured a lush, highly detailed landscape – the iconic Pillars of Creation – where new stars are forming within dense clouds of gas and dust. The three-dimensional pillars look like majestic rock formations, but are far more permeable. These columns are made up of cool interstellar gas and dust that appear – at times – semi-transparent in near-infrared light.
Webb’s new view of the Pillars of Creation, which were first made famous when imaged by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, will help researchers revamp their models of star formation by identifying far more precise counts of newly formed stars, along with the quantities of gas and dust in the region. Over time, they will begin to build a clearer understanding of how stars form and burst out of these dusty clouds over millions of years.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
#NASA #STScI #jwst #jameswebbspacetelescope #NASAGoddard #NASAMarshall #PillarsOfCreation
A HaOIII narrowband image of the Eagle Nebula (catalogued as Messier 16, M16, or NGC 6611).
The Eagle Nebula is part of a diffuse emission nebula, or H II region, which is catalogued as IC 4703. This region of active current star formation is about 7,000 light-years from Earth.
A spire of gas that can be seen coming off the nebula in the north-eastern part is approximately 9.5 light-years or about 90 trillion kilometers long. The nebula contains several active star-forming gas and dust regions, including the "Pillars of Creation".
About this image:
This image consists of old narrowband Hα and OIII data, that I reprocessed after combining it with more data that I recently imaged.
The Hydrogen dust and gas (the most basic and abundant element in the Universe), emits in the Red part of the spectrum, and the doubly ionized Oxygen emits in the Blue part of the spectrum.
Wavelengths of light in this image:
Hydrogen Alpha line 656nm (7nm bandwidth).
OIII line 500.7nm (6.5nm bandwidth).
Processing:
Pre-Processing and Linear workflow in PixInsight,
and finished in Photoshop.
Plate Solving:
Platesolve 2 via Sequence Generator Pro.
Astrometry Info:
Center RA, Dec: 274.716, -13.820
Center RA, hms: 18h 18m 51.796s
Center Dec, dms: -13° 49' 11.111"
Size: 60.8 x 40 arcmin
Radius: 0.606 deg
Pixel scale: 2.21 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: Up is 9.62 degrees E of N
nova.astrometry.net/user_images/2794874#annotated
Martin
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Ho fotografato altre volte la bellissima "Nebulosa Aquila", ma non sono mai riuscito a raggiungere una buona integrazione che mi permettesse di elaborarla efficacemente. Questa volta, grazie al filtro multi banda stretta Optolong L-eNhance ho raggiunto un'integrazione di 13h senza essere assediato dall'Inquinamento luminoso. Il risultato personalmente mi soddisfa molto.
La Nebulosa Aquila, nota anche come "M16", "IC4703" o Regina delle Stelle, vasta e luminosa nebulosa ad emissione HII si trova in mezzo alla Via Lattea nella costellazione della Coda del Serpente e al suo interno ospita l'ammasso aperto di giovani stelle NGC 6611.
E' molto conosciuta per le formazioni singolari al suo interno, fra tutte i ""Pilastri della Creazione"".
Per le sue caratteristiche il FOV inquadrato presenta zone con intensità luminosa non omogenea con il cuore della nebulosa molto luminoso e le zone più esterne molto deboli; quindi ho dovuto trovare un buon compromesso per evidenziare le parti deboli e non bruciare quelle luminose.
Spero di esserci riuscito.
I have photographed the beautiful "Nebulosa Aquila" other times, but I have never managed to achieve a good integration that would allow me to process it effectively. This time, thanks to the Optolong L-eNhance narrow band multi-filter, I have achieved an integration of 13h without being besieged by light pollution. The result personally satisfies me a lot.
The Eagle Nebula, also known as "M16", "IC4703" or Queen of the Stars, a vast and bright HII emission nebula is located in the middle of the Milky Way in the constellation of the Serpent's Tail and within it hosts the open cluster of young stars NGC 6611.
It is well known for the singular formations within it, among all the ""Pillars of Creation"".
Due to its characteristics, the framed FOV presents areas with non-homogeneous light intensity with the heart of the nebula very bright and the outer areas very weak; therefore I had to find a good compromise to highlight the weak parts and not burn the bright ones.
I hope I succeeded.
Google translator
___________________
Optic: APO Refractor Askar 103APO + 0.6X
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC-Pro
Mount: Sky Watcher HEQ5 Synscan
Seeing: 4 (scala Antoniadi)
Filter: Narrowband Optolong L-eNhance 2" + SVbony UV-IR cut
-156x300s 250gain /250gain / 35 dark /21 flat / 18 darkflat /80 bias
t° sensor: -10°C
Date: 5-22-23-25/06/2025
Integration: 13h
Temperature: 21°C (media)
location for : Biancavilla -Catania-(Italy) 515m slm (Bortle 5-6)
Acquisition: NINA, PHDGuiding
Processing: DSS, SIRIL, PS, GraXpert
Stellar magnitude > 16.5 th (GAIA-DR3).
The Pillars of Creation are set off in a kaleidoscope of colour in the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s near-infrared-light view. The pillars look like arches and spires rising out of a desert landscape, but are filled with semi-transparent gas and dust, and ever changing. This is a region where young stars are forming – or have barely burst from their dusty cocoons as they continue to form.
Protostars are the scene-stealers in this Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) image. These are the bright red orbs that sometimes appear with eight diffraction spikes. When knots with sufficient mass form within the pillars, they begin to collapse under their own gravity, slowly heat up, and eventually begin shining brightly.
Along the edges of the pillars are wavy lines that look like lava. These are ejections from stars that are still forming. Young stars periodically shoot out jets that can interact within clouds of material, like these thick pillars of gas and dust. This sometimes also results in bow shocks, which can form wavy patterns like a boat does as it moves through water. These young stars are estimated to be only a few hundred thousand years old, and will continue to form for millions of years.
Although it may appear that near-infrared light has allowed Webb to “pierce through” the background to reveal great cosmic distances beyond the pillars, the interstellar medium stands in the way, like a drawn curtain.
This is also the reason why there are no distant galaxies in this view. This translucent layer of gas blocks our view of the deeper universe. Plus, dust is lit up by the collective light from the packed “party” of stars that have burst free from the pillars. It’s like standing in a well-lit room looking out a window – the interior light reflects on the pane, obscuring the scene outside and, in turn, illuminating the activity at the party inside.
Webb’s new view of the Pillars of Creation will help researchers revamp models of star formation. By identifying far more precise star populations, along with the quantities of gas and dust in the region, they will begin to build a clearer understanding of how stars form and burst out of these clouds over millions of years.
The Pillars of Creation is a small region within the vast Eagle Nebula, which lies 6500 light-years away.
Webb’s NIRCam was built by a team at the University of Arizona and Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center.
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; J. DePasquale, A. Koekemoer, A. Pagan (STScI); CC BY 4.0
I'll call this my first successful SHO narrowband image. Two things made this attempt successful. First, I realized that brightness difference between the core of M16 and the other parts of the image make it difficult to get a stretch that works for both. The other thing is that I used the PixInsight/NarrowbandNormalization to get the colors right.
ZWO ASI6200MM-P/Chroma 3nm SHO
Tele Vue NP101is (4" f/430)
Losmandy G11
Ha: 8 x 600s
Oiii: 4 x 600s
Sii 8 x 600s
3:20 total integration time
The Eagle Nebula (catalogued as Messier 16 or M16, and as NGC 6611, and also known as the Star Queen Nebula) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745–46. Both the "Eagle" and the "Star Queen" refer to visual impressions of the dark silhouette near the center of the nebula, an area made famous as the "Pillars of Creation" imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula contains several active star-forming gas and dust regions, including the aforementioned Pillars of Creation. The Eagle Nebula lies in the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way.
Equipment:
Explore Scientific ED127, ZWO ASI2600MM, EAF, EFW, ASIAIR, AM5
Antlia 3nm SHO Pro filters
Pixinsight, Photoshop
E' incredibile ma vero. Avevo acquistato lo Schmidt-Cassegrain Celestron C8 (203mm f/10) nel 2000 e non lo avevo mai provato per la fotografia Deep-Sky. Neanche dopo aver acquistato il suo riduttore-correttore 0.63x, perchè non solo il suo campo corretto è più piccolo del formato APS-C ma ero anche convinto che la mia HEQ5-pro non fosse in grado di gestirne adeguatamente il peso e la guida. La ASI533MC-P, con il suo sensore da 1" (11.31x11.31mm) mi ha spinto a provare.
Ho iniziato con un target luminoso e quale migliore occasione che ripuntare la nebulosa M16?
Il controllo con la HEQ5 è al limite e alcune volte le oscillazioni per le folate di vento creano problemi. L'autoguida fa quello che può e la turbolenza spesso non mi ha aiutato.Forse un'ottica adattiva potrebbe fare miracoli, ma sono comunque rimasto piacevolmente sorpreso da questo primo rsultato ottenuto. Comunque c'è da dire che è stato un grande vantaggio per me avere sul tetto di casa "l'ossservatorio", che mi ha semplificato molto il processo di acquisizione, composto da 4 sessioni fotografiche.
I Pilastri della Creazione, la Guglia stellare, le nebulose oscure che si stagliano nel vasto tappeto di emissione Ha e i contorni delle nubi di idrogeno: questo spettacolo visto con una focale di 1260mm è stato veramente appagante.
Per i dettagli sulla Nebulosa Aquila vi rimando all'immagine flic.kr/p/2reF7PA
___________________
It's incredible but true. I purchased the Celestron C8 Schmidt-Cassegrain (203mm f/10) in 2000 and had never tried it for deep-sky photography. Not even after purchasing its 0.63x reducer-corrector, because not only is its corrected field smaller than that of an APS-C format, but I was also convinced that my HEQ5-pro wouldn't be able to adequately handle its weight and guiding. The ASI533MC-P, with its 1" sensor (11.31x11.31mm), encouraged me to try.
I started with a bright target, and what better opportunity than to refocus on the M16 nebula?
Control with the HEQ5 is at its limits, and sometimes the oscillations caused by gusts of wind create problems. The autoguider does what it can, and the turbulence often didn't help. Perhaps adaptive optics could work miracles, but I was still pleasantly surprised by this first result. However, it must be said that it was a great advantage for me to have "the observatory" on the roof of my house, which greatly simplified the acquisition process, which consisted of 4 photographic sessions.
The Pillars of Creation, the Stellar Spire, the dark nebulae that stand out in the vast carpet of Ha emission and the outlines of hydrogen clouds: this spectacle seen with a focal length of 1260mm was truly rewarding.
For details on the Eagle Nebula, I refer you to the image flic.kr/p/2reF7PA
Google translation
__________________
Optic: Celestron SC C8 203mm f/10+ Celestron riducer-corrector 0.63X
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC-Pro
Mount: Sky Watcher HEQ5-Pro
Seeing: 4 (scala Antoniadi)
Filter: Narrowband Optolong L-eNhance 2" + SVbony UV-IR cut
-153x180s 250gain/ 25 dark /23 flat / 23 darkflat /80 bias
t° sensor: -5°C
Date: 12-13-14-15/07/2025
Integration: 7h 39m
Temperature: 25°C (media)
location for : Biancavilla -Catania-(Italy) 515m slm (Bortle 5-6)
Acquisition: NINA, PHDGuiding
Processing: DSS, SIRIL, PS, GraXpert
The Eagle Nebula is in the constellation of Serpens and contains several star forming regions. The “Pillars of Creation” are the tall spire like structures in the image composed of hydrogen and dust.
There are several smaller dark globules visible in this wide field image. Click to see the high resolution image.
Data for this image was collected by the following 1m telescopes operated by the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) Network:
1m-04, 1m-05 and 1m-09 located at Cerro Tololo, Chile
1m-10 and 1m-12 located at Sutherland, South Africa
The Principal Investigator for this data set was BJ Fulton.
For this image I used publicly available data from the LCOGT Science Archive. This image is a false color image composed of data acquired by the LCOGT telescopes with the following filters:
SDSS i' Exposure: 172x3 mins = 8.6 hours
SDSS r' Exposure: 184x3mins = 9.2 hours
SDSS g' Exposure: 156x3 mins = 7.8 hours
Image replaced September 17, 2017. Stars are are now more neutral looking with less cyan or magenta cores. The image is also more pleasing with less red and stronger blues.
Publishing credits:
1) LCOGT at their website as part of their image gallery: lcogt.net/images/space/
2) Universe Today picked up this image for their Instagram stream. instagram.com/p/31oSVCFnOd/
The Eagle Nebula (catalogued as Messier 16 or M16, and as NGC 6611, and also known as the Star Queen Nebula and The Spire) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Chéseaux in 1745-46. Both the "Eagle" and the "Star Queen" refer to visual impressions of the dark silhouette near the centre of the nebula, an area made famous as the "Pillars of Creation" photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula contains several active star-forming gas and dust regions, including the Pillars of Creation.
This region of active current star formation is about 7000 light-years distant. A spire of gas that can be seen coming off the nebula is approximately 9.5 light-years or about 90 trillion kilometres long
Details
M: Mesu 200
T: ODK10
C: QSI683 with 3nm Astrodon Ha filter
28x1800s
Total exposure 14 hours
Soaring just above Sagittarius in our southern skies, the Eagle nebula (M16; NGC 6611) is part of a large emission cloud of hydrogen atoms and is the home of a young open cluster of stars, 7,000 light years from Earth. At the center of the nebula are the pillars of star-forming dark clouds. Made famous by images from the Hubble Space Telescope (www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-pillars-of-creation), these "Pillars of Creation" are understood to be a stellar "nursery" and stretch roughly 4 to 5 light years in length. Nearby, off to the northeast (towards the lower left in this image) is another "Black Pillar" spire, about 9.5 light years long. [in Explore, 8 August 2019]
Hydrogen alpha (red color) combined with OIII, which in this image is manifest in areas where reddish hue is whitened.
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Image captured:
2-3 August 2019
South Shore, Lake San Antonio, CA.
Narrow band data:
9 x 15 min of Ha
8 x 15 min of OIII
(4.25 hrs of total integration)
Unbinned (1x1)
QSI-690
AT6RC with Field Flattener
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed the once-hidden features of the protostar within the dark cloud L1527, providing insight into the beginnings of a new star. These blazing clouds within the Taurus star-forming region are only visible in infrared light, making it an ideal target for Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam).
The protostar itself is hidden from view within the “neck” of this hourglass shape. An edge-on protoplanetary disk is seen as a dark line across the middle of the neck. Light from the protostar leaks above and below this disk, illuminating cavities within the surrounding gas and dust.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI. Image processing: J. DePasquale, A. Pagan, and A. Koekemoer (STScI)
#NASA #STScI #jwst #jameswebbspacetelescope #NASAGoddard #NASAMarshall #PillarsOfCreation
My first image of the Eagle Nebula (M16).
This is a tricky one for me as it's quite low in the sky from my latitude. I'm delighted the pillars of creation (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillars_of_Creation) showed up in the image.
The Eagle Nebula (catalogued as Messier 16 or M16, and as NGC 6611, and also known as the Star Queen Nebula) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745–46. Both the "Eagle" and the "Star Queen" refer to visual impressions of the dark silhouette near the center of the nebula, an area made famous as the "Pillars of Creation" imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula contains several active star-forming gas and dust regions, including the aforementioned Pillars of Creation. The Eagle Nebula lies in the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way.
Equipment:
Explore Scientific ED-80
ZWO ASI2600MM, EAF, EFW, ASIAIR, AM5
Antlia 3nm SHO Pro filters
Pixinsight, Photoshop
A widefield HaOIII Narrowband Bi-Color image of the Eagle Nebula, with the "Pillars of Creation" visible in the Nebula. The Eagle Nebula is catalogued as Messier 16, M16, or NGC 6611, and also known as the Star Queen Nebula and The Spire. M16 is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens.
The Eagle Nebula is part of a diffuse emission nebula, or H II region, which is catalogued as IC 4703. This region of active current star formation is about 7000 light-years distant. A spire of gas that can be seen coming off the nebula in the north-eastern part is approximately 9.5 light-years or about 90 trillion kilometers long.
Both the "Eagle" and the "Star Queen" refer to visual impressions of the dark silhouette near the center of the nebula, an area made famous as the "Pillars of Creation" photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula contains several active star-forming gas and dust regions, including the Pillars of Creation.
The cluster associated with the nebula has approximately 8100 stars, which are mostly concentrated in a gap in the molecular cloud to the north-west of the Pillars.
About this image:
Photographing in specific (or narrow) wavelengths of light creates a very different type of image. The Hydrogen dust and gas (the most basic and abundant element in the Universe), emits in the Red part of the spectrum, and the doubly ionized Oxygen emits in the Blue part of the spectrum. This HaOIII Bi-Color technique is a great way to show the Hydrogen and doubly ionized Oxygen in a DSO (Deep Sky Object).
Gear:
William Optics Star 71mm f/4.9 Imaging APO Refractor Telescope.
William Optics 50mm Finder Scope.
Celestron SkySync GPS Accessory.
Orion Mini 50mm Guide Scope.
Orion StarShoot Autoguider.
Celestron AVX Mount.
QHYCCD PoleMaster.
Celestron StarSense.
MBox USB Meteostation.
RoboFocus RF3 Focuser.
Optolong SHO, L-Pro and LRGB filters.
QHYCFW2-M-US Filterwheel (7 position x 36mm).
QHY163M Cooled CMOS Monochrome Astronomy Camera.
Tech:
Guiding in Open PHD 2.6.5.
Image acquisition in Sequence Generator Pro.
Camera Settings:
QHY Sensor Sensitivity:
Gain: 120
Offset: 35
Imaged at -20°C or -4 °F
HaOIII Bi Color:
Ha = 18 x 180 sec.
OIII = 22 x 180 sec.
Wavelengths of light:
Optolong SHO Narrowband filters:
H-Alpha line 656nm (7nm bandwidth)
OIII line 500.7nm (6.5nm bandwidth)
Processing:
Pre-Processing and Linear workflow in PixInsight,
and finished in Photoshop.
Astrometry Info:
Center RA, Dec: 274.809, -13.754
Center RA, hms: 18h 19m 14.258s
Center Dec, dms: -13° 45' 14.274"
Size: 2.62 x 2.01 deg
Radius: 1.650 deg
Pixel scale: 5.89 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: Up is 90.7 degrees E of N
View an Annotated Sky Chart for this image.
View this image in the view in World Wide Telescope.
&creditsUrl=&ra=274.928427&dec=-13.600277&x=707.3&y=542.3&rotation=89.34&thumb=http://nova.astrometry.net/image/4940751){kind=link}
SQM-L Sky Quality Reading:
20.5
Flickr Explore:
Martin
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The Eagle Nebula (catalogued as Messier 16 or M16, and as NGC 6611, and also known as the Star Queen Nebula) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745–46. Both the "Eagle" and the "Star Queen" refer to visual impressions of the dark silhouette near the center of the nebula, an area made famous as the "Pillars of Creation" imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula contains several active star-forming gas and dust regions, including the aforementioned Pillars of Creation. The Eagle Nebula lies in the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way.
Equipment:
Explore Scientific ED-80
ZWO ASI2600MM, EAF, EFW, ASIAIR, AM5
Antlia 3nm SHO Pro filters
Pixinsight, Photoshop
Nel cuore della costellazione del Serpente, a circa 7.000 anni luce da noi, si estende la maestosa Nebulosa Aquila (M16), una regione di formazione stellare vasta oltre 70 anni luce.
Al suo interno si trovano i celebri Pilastri della Creazione, colonne di gas e polveri scolpite dalla radiazione di giovani stelle massicce.
Queste strutture, alte fino a 5 anni luce, sono veri e propri “nidi cosmici” dove nuove stelle stanno nascendo all’interno dei bozzoli di idrogeno molecolare.
La luce che vediamo oggi partì quando la civiltà umana muoveva appena i primi passi, e nel frattempo i venti stellari hanno già iniziato a dissolvere parte delle colonne.
L’immagine inquadra non solo i Pilastri, ma anche l’intero ammasso aperto NGC 6611, la sorgente della loro intensa ionizzazione.
Creazione e distruzione, in equilibrio dinamico nel laboratorio naturale più spettacolare della Via Lattea.
Nota tecnica: scatto realizzato con rifrattore Tecnosky 72ED e camera ZWO ASI 533MC, integrazione totale di 1 ora con filtro dual band SV220, dalla città.
#M16 #NebulosaAquila #PilastriDellaCreazione #EagleNebula #PillarsOfCreation #Astrofotografia #Astrophotography #DeepSky #SpazioProfondo #ViaLattea #MilkyWay #CosmicNursery #Nebulae #Astronomia #SpaceArt #StarFormation #ZWOASI533MC #Tecnosky72ED #DualBandFilter #SV220
Located at about 5700 LY from Earth in the constellation Serpens, the Eagle Nebula is a huge stellar nursery brimming with active star formation. At its core, the famous Pillars of Creation, made famous by Hubble's groundbreaking photo, span several light years and contain thousands of protostars.
-=Tech Data=-
-Equipment-
Imaging Scope: Sky-Watcher Esprit 100
Mount: Celestron CGX
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI 1600MC-Pro
Filters: Baader UV/IR cut
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI120 Mini
Guide Scope: Starfield 60mm guide scope
Dew Control: Kendrick
Power: Pegasus Astro Pocket Power Box
- Acquisition -
20 x 5 min
40 x 3 min
- Software -
Acquisition / Rig Control: Sequence Generator Pro
Stacking: Astro Pixel Processor
Processing: PixInsight
Post Processing: Photoshop CC
Shot at the Camden Lake Provincial Wildlife Area near Moscow, Ontario.
Also designated Sharpless 171, this is a young irregular emission nebula and star forming region of about 40 light-years across, located some 3,300 light-years away at the edge of a giant molecular cloud toward the northern constellation Cepheus.
Cosmic pillars of cold molecular gas and clouds of dark dust lie within. Powering the nebular glow are the young, hot stars of the Berkeley 59 cluster. This includes one of the hottest stars discovered in the vicinity of our Sun, namely BD+66 1673, an eclipsing binary system containing a very bright star with a luminosity ~100000 times that of the Sun.
Its been a while since my last astro image due to short summer nights, the mainly bad weather since then and work and other commitments, but good to get posting again.
The data for this image was gathered a few months back over 6 separate nights during June through August 2012, just took a while to get to the processing!
Tech details below:
Skywatcher MN190 (@F5.3)
Mount - EQ6
Starlight Xpress SXVR-H18 @ -20 degs
QHY5 PHD guiding, guidesope Celestron ED80
Ha - Baader 7nm
- 20x15min bin1x1
S2 - Baader 8nm
- 16x15min bin2x2
O3 - Baader 8nm
- 16x15min bin2x2
Total time 13h
HST mapping: Red - SII, Green - Ha, Blue - OIII
Captured in Nebulosity 2
Calibration, stack and DDP in Images Plus
Curves + all other processing PS CS3
Stanotte, nonostante l’inquinamento luminoso della città e la sua timida altezza sull’orizzonte, sono riuscito a catturare la maestosa nebulosa M16, nota anche come Nebulosa Aquila, con il mio fedele Tecnosky 72ED. Un’impresa difficile ma gratificante: questa regione di formazione stellare, situata a circa 7000 anni luce da noi nella costellazione del Serpente, ospita le iconiche Pillars of Creation — imponenti colonne di gas e polveri che raccontano la nascita delle stelle. Un vero gioiello del cielo estivo, visibile solo per poco tempo e con fatica... ma ne vale ogni secondo.
90 minuti di posa su Skywatcher HEQ5 con telecamere ASI 533MC per la ripresa e filtro sv220 e ASI 676 MC per la guida
#nebulosaaquila #m16 #eaglenebula #astrofotografia #astrophotography #72ED #cityastrophotography #narrowband #pillarsOfCreation #stelleenebulose #serpensconstellation #astroamatori #nebulosa #nightphotography #spacewonder #deepSky #hubbleinspired #astrofotografiaitalia #deepskyphotography #celestialbeauty
English below:
M16 o nebulosa Aquila nella costellazione della Coda del Serpente presenta, al suo centro, la formazione nota come i Pilastri della Creazione resa nota al Telescopio Spaziale Hubble.
Somma di pose guidate da 10 minuti per un totale di 2 ore e 20 minuti con filtro dualband Antlia ALP-T 5nm. Telescopio newton 150/600 con correttore Tecnosky 0.95x, camera Tecnosky Vision 571C, montatura Eq6-R Pro, elaborazione Pixinsight.
M16, or the Eagle Nebula, in the constellation Serpens (Coda del Serpens), features, at its center, the formation known as the Pillars of Creation, discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Sum of 10-minute guided exposures for a total of 2 hours and 20 minutes with an Antlia ALP-T 5nm dual-band filter. 150/600 Newtonian telescope with a Tecnosky 0.95x corrector, Tecnosky Vision 571C camera, EQ6-R Pro mount, and Pixinsight processing.
The Eagle Nebula ... so called because of its resemblance to an eagle ... is located about 7000 light years from earth in the Sagittarius-Carina spiral arm of the Milky Way.
The Eagle Nebula is famous for its Pillars of Creation ... a shot taken by NASA with the Hubble Telescope. If you haven't seen it you should check it out : www.nasa.gov/image-article/pillars-of-creation/
This lowly shot of mine was taken with the Seestar S50 smart telescope .... 414 ten second images stacked and processed in PixInsight with finishing touches in Photoshop using the Nik Collection and Star Spikes Pro 4 plugins.
I have other scopes but it's amazing what this little scope from ZWO can do. Just level it, tell it what you want to shoot ... then leave it alone to do its thing. Learning how to process the images it provides ... now that's another story! One with quite a steep learning curve!
The Eagle nebula (M16 & NGC 6611) in the constellation Serpens imaged in natural color using a 8" SCT, with an astromodded and cooled DSLR.
the Eagle Nebula with his Pillars of Creation, M16 is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Chéseaux in 1745–46. Both the "Eagle" and the "Star Queen" refer to visual impressions of the dark silhouette near the center of the nebula, an area made famous as the "Pillars of Creation" photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula contains several active star-forming gas and dust regions, including the Pillars of Creation.
this is about 40 shots in dual iso 1600/2500 with a CDS Canon 50D on a 130/910mm super-apo triplet. taken from Italian western alps (cugn di goria, colle di sampeyre, 2400m)
edit v.2 - added about 1hour and half of 2015 shots, same place, same period, same ota, and i've apply my new personal workflow on processing that reduce noise, and that's the result :) 2 hours and 30 mins total exposure time
(vertical align, soon i'll post orizontal align stack)
wiki:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Nebula
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillars_of_Creation
English below
M16 come la precedente ma elaborata in HOO.
M16 like the previous one but processed in HOO.
My first, humble take of what arguably is NASA's most iconic picture Deep Space object, the so-called Pillars of the Creation. This feature of the Eagle Nebula (M16) was first made famous by the Hubble space telescope, before NASA used the James Webb Space telescope to capture the Pillars in even greater detail.
M16（わし星雲）の一部であるいわゆる創造の柱です。ハッブル宇宙望遠鏡に撮影された以降、星雲の撮影と言えば、これだというほど、象徴的な一枚となりました。やがてアメリカ航空宇宙局はジェームズ・ウェッブ宇宙望遠鏡を利用して、昨年再び創造の柱を撮影したのです。
Description: A composite image of the Eagle Nebula (M16) with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope penetrates the dark columns of gas and dust to reveal how much star formation is happening there. The Chandra data (red, green, and blue represent low, medium, and high-energy X-rays respectively) show very few X-ray sources in the so-called "Pillars of Creation" themselves. This indicates that star formation peaked in this region several million years ago.
Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray
Date: 2001
Persistent URL: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2007/m16/
Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Collection: Normal Stars and Star Clusters Collection
Gift line: X-ray: NASA/CXC/U.Colorado/Linsky et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/ASU/J.Hester & P.Scowen.
Accession number: m16
This image is the result of a live stacking session during a guided tour at the Munich Public Observatory (Volkssternwarte München).
This is a rather tricky object since its low on the horizon from my location (about 20° at best), faint, and seen from a light-polluted city. Still, I wanted to try and see what I could squeeze out of the telescope and camera!
While I found there's quite a few quirks to the optical system, leading among other things to a curved focal plane, a nasty triangle-shaped coma and some chromatic aberration (probably due to the reducer), the guests of the evening were amazed, and so was I that I could make it visible at all!
Equipment:
Meade LX200 16" f/10 SCT
0.63x reducer from an old Lumicon Easy Guider (does not flatten the focal plane!)
no filters
no guiding
ASI294MC pro @ -10°C / gain 120
360 x 10 sec, live stacking (I will try to stack the single frames again sometime soon and try to, e.g., suppress some faint satellite trails in the image)
Processing: SiRiL, fitswork, Luminar 2018
My version of the Pillars of Creation - made from Webb Telescope infrared data (wavelengths 770, 1130 & 1500)
Image attribution: NASA / ESA / CSA / Brian Tomlinson
Website: www.bt-photography.co.uk
Instagram: www.instagram.com/bt_photo
You can’t escape its clutches — just in time for #Halloween, the Pillars of Creation reach back out like a ghostly hand. (Some chilling perspective: these “fingers” are roughly 5 light-years long!)
The eerie landscape is captured this time by the James Webb Space Telescope’s mid-infrared instrument (MIRI). Mid-infrared light specializes in detailing where dust and gas is. Here, the densest areas of dust are the darkest shades of gray, while the red region toward the top is where the dust is diffuse and cooler.
Don’t worry, the baby stars seen in Webb’s near-infrared view (released earlier this month) didn’t disappear. They’re just not easy to detect in mid-infrared! Instead, MIRI sees young stars with dusty cloaks — the crimson orbs at the pillars’ fringes — as well as scattered, aging blue stars.
Hauntingly beautiful in any light, we can’t help but return to the Pillars of Creation over and over. And each time, we deepen our understanding of this region. With this new MIRI image, astronomers now have higher resolution data in mid-infrared light than ever before. Learn more: www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/haunting-portrait-nasa-s-webb-reveals-dust-structure-in-pillars-of-creation
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
[Image description: Three prominent pillars of semi-opaque gas and dust, each in spectral shades of gray-blue, start at the bottom left and reach toward the top right. From left to right, each pillar is consecutively smaller. Together, they appear like a ghostly hand. Towards the top of the leftmost pillar, there is one prominent red star, with tiny spikes at its tip. Lower on this pillar, there are several darker areas of dust that jut out like protrusions, some also with stars that appear as small red dots. The other two pillars are below and to the right of the first pillar. The background of this scene takes on glowing shades of orange-red mixed with black, with the strongest bright orange hues dipping into a V shape at the top center of the image. Scattered throughout the image are a few dozen tiny bright white and blue stars. Larger stars appear like red orbs and are embedded in the pillars.]
A re-process of the earlier M16 image. I wanted to bring out more of the vibrancy and clean the image up.
in the Eagle Cloud.To me this looks like a mother with a child on her lap, who holds a snake.
pastell on black paper.
Säulen der Schöpfung in der Adler Wolke. Für mich schaut das wie eine Mutter aus, auf deren Schoss ein Kind eine Schlange hält.
Pastell auf schwarzem Papier
✨ M16 — The Eagle Nebula and the Pillars of Creation ✨
Lights: 69x300" (Halpha, OIII, SII)
Telescope: Planewave CDK24
Camera: QHY 600M
Filters: Astrodon
Processed: Pixinsight
Date: 31/05/2024
This image reveals the heart of M16, the iconic Eagle Nebula, located in the constellation Serpens at a distance of about 7,000 light-years. It is one of the most celebrated stellar nurseries in our galaxy, where vast clouds of gas and dust are sculpted by radiation and stellar winds from young, massive stars.
Dominating the scene are the legendary Pillars of Creation—towering columns of cold molecular gas and dust, slowly eroded by intense ultraviolet light. Within these dark structures, new stars are being born, hidden from view, while others have already emerged, illuminating the nebula with a delicate interplay of light and shadow.
The contrasting colors tell a physical story:
🔹 Blue tones trace ionized oxygen and energetic radiation.
🔹 Warm orange and brown hues reveal hydrogen emission and dense dust lanes, where gravity quietly works to ignite future suns.
This is not a static landscape, but a dynamic environment shaped over millions of years—creation and destruction intertwined in a fragile cosmic balance.
✨ Constellation: Serpens
📏 Distance: ~7,000 light-years
💫 Apparent magnitude: ~6.0
🌌 Object type: Emission nebula & star-forming region
Alessandro Motta
@ale_motta_astrofotografia
#M16 #EagleNebula #PillarsOfCreation #StarFormation #EmissionNebula #DeepSky #Astrophotography #CosmicDust #NightSky
🌌 Here, stars are born in silence—carved from darkness by light, time, and gravity, writing the next chapter of the Milky Way.
Journey with us through Webb’s breathtaking view of the Pillars of Creation, where scores of newly formed stars glisten like dewdrops among floating, translucent columns of gas and dust.
If this majestic landscape looks familiar, you may recognize the original. Hubble first captured the Pillars of Creation in 1995 and revisited it in 2014. Webb’s latest view was taken in near-infrared light, which is invisible to our eyes. Seeing in infrared allows Webb to pierce through the dust and reveal stars galore. (Find a side-by-side comparison of the Pillars of Creation as seen by Hubble and Webb also on our Flickr!)
Why go back to where we’ve been before? Webb helps us identify far more precise counts of newborn stars, along with the quantities of gas and dust. This will deepen our understanding of how stars form and burst out of these dusty clouds over millions of years. Read more: www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-takes-star-...
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
[Image description: This Webb image of the “Pillars of Creation” has layers of semi-opaque, rusty red gas and dust that start at the bottom left and go toward the top right. There are three prominent pillars rising toward the top right. The left pillar is the largest and widest. The peaks of the second and third pillars are set off in darker shades of brown and have red outlines. Peeking through the layers of gas and dust is the background, set in shades of blue and littered with tiny yellow and blue stars. Many of the tips of the pillars appear tinged with what looks like lava. There are also tiny red dots at the edges of the pillars, which are newly born stars.]
Captured from my backyard observatory in Michigan using the new QHY16200 Mono CCD. I have added H-Alpha data to the original LRGB image www.flickr.com/photos/terryhancock/28432240124/in/datepos... which reduces star size, gives more emphasis on the nebulous regions and a little more detail around the Pillars.
Total Integration time 3.5 hours.
Technical Information
Location: DownUnderObservatory, Fremont, MI
Captured July 25,29, Aug 21 2016
Size: 4540x3630 pixels
Total integration Time 3.5 Hours
QHY16200A monochrome CCD cooled to -20C
QHYOAG-M Off Axis Guider
LUM 70 min, 7 x 10 min each 1x1
RGB 60 min, 4 x 5 min 2x2
H-Alpha 80 min, 8 x 10 min 2x2
Filters by Optolong
Astro-Tech AT12RC with AP 2.7" Reducer @F6.2
Paramount GT-1100S German Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition Maxim DL
Pre Processing Pixinsight
Post Processing Photoshop CS6
The incandescence of the Eagle Nebula is laced with intricate dark lanes, globules, and huge clouds of dust which shroud ongoing star formation from direct view. The most prominent dark structures are the so-called “Pillars of Creation”, three long fingers of gas and dark dust nearly ten light years long. The Pillars are a field laboratory for the study of star formation and have been examined intensely by astronomers at visible, infrared, and ultraviolet wavelengths. Within the Pillars are much smaller, warmer, and denser regions called evaporating gaseous globules (EGGs), some of which contain just a few solar masses. The EGGs are ground zero for star formation, though it’s difficult to catch these new stars in the act of igniting because they remain obscured by cloaks of dark dust. EGGs located near bright stars are elongated by winds of light and charged particles into what look like schools of celestial tadpoles.
The stars within the Eagle Nebula appear to be in an intermediate state. Stars within the Pillars and other dusty regions remain obscured, while a cluster of some 400 new stars clearly appears in a more transparent section of the nebula. The largest of these stars has a mass some 80 times that of our Sun and the luminosity of perhaps a million Suns. The cluster formed just 2 to 5 million years ago. The nebula itself is only slightly older.
The light we see from the Eagle Nebula and its associated stars left some 7,000 years ago, but some astronomers suspect the Pillars of Creation may have already been obliterated when a massive young star within the nebula detonated as a supernova. The Spitzer Space Telescope detected evidence of a patch of hot gas near the Pillars which may have been caused by such an event about 8,000 years ago. Information from our e-book cosmicpursuits.com/e-books/armchair-astronomer-volume-1-n...
Journey with us through Webb’s breathtaking view of the Pillars of Creation, where scores of newly formed stars glisten like dewdrops among floating, translucent columns of gas and dust.
If this majestic landscape looks familiar, you may recognize the original. Hubble first captured the Pillars of Creation in 1995 and revisited it in 2014. Webb’s latest view was taken in near-infrared light, which is invisible to our eyes. Seeing in infrared allows Webb to pierce through the dust and reveal stars galore.
In this image, compare and contrast the Pillars of Creation as seen by Webb and Hubble. On the left here is Hubble’s iconic view, taken in visible light in 2014. On the right is Webb’s new near-infrared view. (Also find a high-res of just the Webb image here on our Flickr!)
Why go back to where we’ve been before? Webb helps us identify far more precise counts of newborn stars, along with the quantities of gas and dust. This will deepen our understanding of how stars form and burst out of these dusty clouds over millions of years. Read more: www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-takes-star-...
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Image description: Two images of the Pillars of Creation, a star-forming region in space. At left, Hubble’s visible-light view shows darker pillars that rise from the bottom to the top of the screen, ending in three points. The background is opaque, set off in yellow and green toward the bottom and blue and purple at the top. A handful of stars of various sizes appear.
Webb’s near-infrared image at right shows the same pillars, but they are semi-opaque and rusty red-colored. The peaks of the second and third pillars are set off in darker shades of brown and have red outlines. The background is cast in darker blues and blacks, and stars in yellow and white of all sizes speckle the entire scene. Webb’s image was cropped and rotated to match Hubble’s view, so much of the top right corner and a small portion of the left corner has been left black.
There encroached clouds, and exposure session got short.
Equipment: Takahashi FSQ-130ED, F3 Reducer 0.6x, IDAS NB12 Dual Narrowband Filter, and EOS R-SP4II, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5n Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 174MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding
Exposure: 3 times x 900 seconds, 2 x 240 sec, and 3 x 60 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/3.0, focal length 390mm
site: 1,118m above sea level at lat. 38 56 39 North and long. 140 48 17 East in Iwakagami-daira on the southern slope of Mt. Kurikoma in Kurihara Miyagi 宮城県栗原市 栗駒山 いわかがみ平
Ambient temperature was around 13 degrees Celsius or 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild.