The Pillars of Creation, Amazing Space Phenomena

If you read my previous post about the scale of the universe then you will by now know that there's some pretty amazing stuff out there in the great beyond, and this is no exception. The 'Pillars of Creation' is a photograph produced using 32 different images from four separate cameras of The Hubble Space Telescope. The photograph shows large 'pillars' of interstellar gas and dust, located 7000 light years away in the Eagle Nebula. They get their name from the shape as they are in the process of forming new stars whilst also being affected by the light from nearby stars that have recently been formed in the Nebula as well.

From Wikipedia 

It was voted as one of the top ten photographs produced by The Hubble Space Telescope by www.space.com -  a title that was well appreciated by the creators of the photo, astronomers Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen. 

Using space technology, the clever people at NASA also figured out the Pillar's composition, consisting of cool molecular hydrogen and dust. The dust is being eroded by ultraviolet rays from nearby stars. Sadly, data suggests that the Pillars have been destroyed however we cannot yet see this. This is due to the fact that they are situated over 7000 light years away from the Earth, therefore we would receive information of their destruction 7000 years after the event had happened. NASA assume they were destroyed around 6000 years ago due to a supernova, as the appearance of the cloud suggests this. The destruction should be visible to Earth in roughly 1000 years time, however some scientist argue that the pillars could have withstood the shock wave and have undergone a more gradual erosion. 

from DailyMail

The Pillars are, or were, huge! They are predicted to be around 4 light years tall, meaning it takes 4 years for light from the top of the pillars to reach the bottom! It's hard to visualise how big this actually is, as we don't have rulers measuring 'Light Years' - however I'll put it this way to help it easier to understand:  4 light years is around the same distance to the next star system to us. 

I hope this post has interested you as it did me to write it. Feel free to share and check out my other posts! Thanks for reading.