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Infrared Eagle Nebula [M16] |
Infrared Eagle Nebula [M16] and the "Pillars of Creation" |
This majestic view taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope tells an untold
story of life and death in the Eagle nebula, an industrious star-making
factory located 7,000 light-years away in the Serpens constellation. The
image shows the region's entire network of turbulent clouds and newborn
stars in infrared light.
The color green denotes cooler towers and fields of dust, including the
three famous space pillars, dubbed the "Pillars of Creation," which were
photographed by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 (see inset).
But it is the color red that speaks of the drama taking place in this
region. Red represents hotter dust thought to have been warmed by the
explosion of a massive star about 8,000 to 9,000 years ago. Since light
from the Eagle nebula takes 7,000 years to reach us, this "supernova"
explosion would have appeared as an oddly bright star in our skies about
1,000 to 2,000 years ago.
According to astronomers' estimations, the explosion's blast wave would
have spread outward and toppled the three pillars about 6,000 years ago
(which means we wouldn't witness the destruction for another 1,000 years
or so). The blast wave would have crumbled the mighty towers, exposing
newborn stars that were buried inside, and triggering the birth of new
ones.
The pillars of the Eagle nebula were originally sculpted by radiation and
wind from about 20 or so massive stars hidden from view in the upper left
portion of the image. The radiation and wind blew dust away, carving out a
hollow cavity (center) and leaving only the densest nuggets of dust and
gas (tops of pillars) flanked by columns of lighter dust that lie in
shadow (base of pillars). This sculpting process led to the creation of a
second generation of stars inside the pillars.
If a star did blow up in this region, it is probably located among the
other massive stars in the upper left portion of the image. Its blast wave
might have already caused a third generation of stars to spring from the
wreckage of the busted pillars.
This image is a composite of infrared light detected by Spitzer's infrared
array camera and multiband imaging photometer. Blue is 4.5-micron light;
green is 8-micron light; and red is 24-micron light.