For the first time, astronomers have produced a fully three-dimensional view of the Pillars of Creation, using the MUSE instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to capture the iconic billowing dust pillars in new detail and discover never-before-seen features.
The Pillars of Creation, a feature located in the Eagle Nebula (Messier 16) are located approximately 7,000 light years away and are “a classic example of the column-like shapes that develop in the giant clouds of gas and dust that are the birthplaces of new stars,” the ESO said in a statement.
The columns arise when extremely large, newly formed blue-white O and B stars give off UV radiation and stellar winds that cause less dense materials to be blown away. Dust and gas pockets that are denser can resist this erosion for longer periods of time, and the thicker dust pockets can shield material from that radiation and stellar wind.
As result, dark “tails” or “elephant trunks” are created, pointing away from the bright O and B stars. To us, they look like a dusty pillar. Now, the authors of a new study published Thursday in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society reported that they had used the MUSE instrument to illustrate the ongoing evaporation of the Pillars in unprecedented detail.
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