The Pillars of Cosmic Creation
Messier 16 is a young open cluster of stars surrounded by a massive cloud of interstellar gas and dust. It gained worldwide fame in 1995 when the Hubble Space Telescope captured the 'Pillars of Creation'—towering columns of cold molecular hydrogen and dust that are being illuminated and eroded by the ultraviolet light from hot, young stars. These pillars are 'Elephant Trunks' where new stars are currently forming. While the Pillars are the star of the show, the entire nebula resembles an eagle with its wings spread, soaring through the rich star clouds of the Serpens constellation.
Imaging Challenges
- • Resolving the Pillars: Despite being a wide-field target, the central pillars are small and require sharp tracking and deconvolution to define clearly.
- • Dynamic Range: The area immediately surrounding the central star cluster is significantly brighter than the outer 'wings' of the nebula.
- • Color Separation: In RGB, the nebula is overwhelmingly red; using narrowband filters is necessary to see the green and blue structural variations.
The 'Pillars of Creation' are roughly 4 to 5 light-years tall—about the same distance as from our Sun to Proxima Centauri.