explanation
It has become one of the most famous images of modern times. This image [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/1995/44/ ], taken with the Hubble Space Telescope [ ap021124.html ] in 1995, shows evaporating gaseous globules [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/1995/44/text/ ] (EGGs) emerging from pillars of molecular hydrogen gas [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010113.html ] and dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html ]. The giant pillars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970730.html ] are light years [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html ] in length and are so dense that interior gas contracts gravitationally [ http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/astro/gravc.html ] to form stars. At each pillars' end [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061022.html ], the intense radiation of bright young stars causes low density material to boil away, leaving stellar nurseries [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/stellar_nurseries.html ] of dense EGGs [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_%28biology%29 ] exposed. The Eagle Nebula [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/messier/m/m016.html ], associated with the open star cluster [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/open_clusters.html ] M16 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030921.html ], lies about 7000 light years [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html ] away. The pillars of creation were imaged recently [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2007/m16/ ] by the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/about/axaf_mission.html ], and it was found that most EGGS are not strong emitters of X-rays [ http://imagers.gsfc.nasa.gov/ems/xrays.html ].
Explanation
false