The Pillars of Creation are among the most famous objects in our galaxy. They were one of the most popular targets for the Hubble Space Telescope, with the first images taken shortly after Hubble’s launch in the 1990s. The pillars themselves are actually a small section of the much larger Eagle Nebula, a star-forming region in the constellation Serpents about 7,000 light-years away. The Pillars of Creation get their name from the fact that stars form in the Pillars.
Characteristics of the Pillars of Creation
Hubble revisited the Pillars of Creation in 2015 and took this updated view of the structure in visible light. Image credit: NASA/ESA
The Pillars of Creation are composed primarily of molecular hydrogen, the main ingredient in star formation. Interestingly, the pillars themselves are actually eroded by the stars forming within them. The pillars contain an abundance of young, high-mass stars that emit vast amounts of ultraviolet radiation. This process of evaporation by light is called photoevaporation. Just by looking at the images of the Pillars, it’s hard to see how big they are. The leftmost pillar is estimated to be four light years across. If our sun were placed at the bottom of this pillar, the structure would almost extend to the nearest star to our sun, Proxima Centauri.
Do the pillars still exist?
Image of the Pillars of Creation taken in infrared light. Image credit: NASA/ESA
Since the Pillars of Creation are 7,000 light years away, we see them as they were 7,000 years ago. The speed of light is the fastest known thing in the universe, but this speed is still limited, and so it takes time for light from one destination to reach our eyes. Thus, some objects in space are so far away that even though we can see them, they may no longer exist. This may be the case with the Pillars of Creation. Images from the Spitzer Space Telescope have revealed the shock wave from a nearby supernova that appears to be moving toward the Pillars. Based on the speed of the shock wave, astronomers estimate that it may have destroyed the Pillars of Creation 6,000 years ago, so their destruction will be visible in about 1,000 years.
Aidan Remple August 1, 2022 in Science
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