1.
Pillars of Creation
(new view)
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has revisited one of its most iconic and popular
images: the Eagle Nebula’s Pillars of Creation. This image shows the pillars as seen in visible
light, capturing the multi-coloured glow of gas clouds, wispy tendrils of dark cosmic dust,
and the rust-coloured elephants’ trunks of the nebula’s famous pillars.
The dust and gas in the pillars is seared by the intense radiation from young stars and
eroded by strong winds from massive nearby stars. With these new images comes better
contrast and a clearer view for astronomers to study how the structure of the pillars is
changing over time.
Credit: NASA, ESA/Hubble and the Hubble Heritage Team
“A lot of iconic Hubble images have shaped my career,
from the Pillars of Creation [Original 1995 image is #82
on the Top 100 list] to the Hubble Ultra Deep field [#7].
It is no wonder that public is excited. Hubble offers far
sharper and deepest views of our Universe. We are
witnessing the birth of stars and galaxies like ours, to
observations of dark matter and even dark energy.
“It will be a very sad day when Hubble goes. I want it to
make one final look at the Pillars of Creation before it
drifts away.”
— Dr. Marusa Bradac
Associate Professor
University of California Davis
Editor’s note: For this commemorative issue, we asked
a number of scientists to share their thoughts about the
Hubble Space Telescope. Their responses are printed
throughout this Top 100 list. Please note that the quotes
are not always about the image sharing that page.