In 2014, almost 20 years after the initial imaging of the Pillars, NASA decided to pay a tribute to their iconic image and re-photograph it, but this time with the Wide Field Camera 3 that was installed in 2009. This new image has double the resolution and shows an incredible increase in detail when compared to the original one, taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. Below is an image of the original with its 2014 counterpart. After looking at the two images, you can see how far we have come in terms of progress for space exploration and imaging.
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| Image courtesy of NASA//Pillars of Creation (1995) on the left and (2014) on the right |
The Pillars of Creation are located in the Eagle Nebula (M16). They are three large columns of gas contained within scorching UV light from a cluster of young stars. In order to put the size of these pillars into perspective, the longest pillar is 4 light-years long. Yup, 4 light-years which is completely unexpected. At first sight, one may think that these are relatively small, but when the actual length is revealed, it is quite impressive. However, those pillars aren't the entire nebula but instead just a tiny, tiny portion of it. Below is a picture showing a larger portion of the nebula.
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| Image courtesy of NASA//Full image of the Eagle Nebula |
As a bonus to add to the retaken image, NASA also decided that it would be cool to take a picture of it in an infrared wavelength. In the infrared version, the pillars look nearly transparent and ghostly like something out of a horror movie. In the picture below, the infrared version is shown. There are many more stars visible in the background because infrared light can penetrate much of the dust and gas easier, just not the really dense parts of the pillars though, however.
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| Image courtesy of NASA//Infrared picture of the Pillars of Creation |
Throughout the 20 year interval, the new picture does have some slight differences as there are some new jets of gas spewing out of some areas. These have been identified as protostar systems, the early stages of a solar system forming. This will give us a lot of information on how our solar system has formed in the early stages as we continue to observe it for the next thousands of years.
The Pillars of Creation are speculated to be destroyed by clouds of hot dust, as predicted by images taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope. The estimated time was said to be 6,000 years, but considering that the Pillars are 7,000 light-years away, the Pillars have probably already been destroyed and the results will reach the Earth in many years.
From the beginning of the Hubble Space Telescope's lifetime all the way till now, 25 years later, it has been the pinnacle of space-based telescopes and has set the standards pretty high for what it has done. It has been used to expand our understanding of the universe so much and it's sad to see that it will be coming down within several years. Unfortunately, not all things last forever but there is good news out of this. The James Webb Space Telescope is set to be launched soon and this is a telescope with far more advanced technology than the Hubble and it will be exciting to see what it can discover. Who knows what we'll find there among the infinite depths of space, large stars and galaxies, black holes and evidence of dark matter, or maybe even signals of life?
To read the full articles on this topic, click the following links:
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2015/01/hubble-goes-high-def-to-revisit-the-iconic-pillars-of-creation
http://www.imveurope.com/news/news_story.php?news_id=1614
http://www.space.com/28175-pillars-of-creation-hubble-photos-2015.html
