Intriguing new Hubble photos hint at solar system origins

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Two views of the Eagle Nebula from the Hubble Space Telescope, one from 2014, left, and the first in 1995. Photo courtesy of NASA and the European Space Agency
Two views of the Eagle Nebula from the Hubble Space Telescope, one from 2014, left, and the first in 1995. Photo courtesy of NASA and the European Space Agency

The muse of the Hubble Space Telescope is even more alluring 20 years later.

Of all the breath-taking photos from the telescope’s camera, the blooming pillars of gas of the Eagle Nebula from 1995 became Hubble’s most iconic image, depicted on stamps, tee-shirts and in several cameos for film and television.

Hubble recently took another look at the star-lit towers of gas and cosmic dust – dubbed the Pillars of Creation — with a newer camera (installed in 2009) and captured greater detail that should give astronomers a chance to see how the clouds of oxygen, hydrogen and sulphur have changed since the first photograph.

Hubble astronomers presented the pictures at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle on Monday to show Hubble’s star-gazing chops are better than ever in 25 years of service.

The space telescope also captured an infrared image that puts the three pillars in silhouette amid millions – Carl Sagan would say bill-ions – of sparkling stars of various size and color.

A recent infrared image of the Eagle Nebula from the Hubble Space Telescope. Photo courtey of NASA and the European Space Agency
A recent infrared image of the Eagle Nebula from the Hubble Space Telescope. Photo courtey of NASA and the European Space Agency

Even with only a cursory side-by-side comparison, astronomers already see changes in the star-forming regions 6,500 light-years away and describe a “sand-blasting” affect created by strong winds, the charged particles from massive stars.

“I’m impressed by how transitory these structors are,” Hubble astronomer Paul Scowen of Arizona State University in Tempe said in a written statement. “We have caught these pillars at a very unique and short-lived moment in their evolution.”

Scowen and others are giddy over the new details in the latest photo. In comparing the two photos, astronomers noticed the growth of a “narrow jet-like” feature coming from a newly forming star. They estimate the length of the jet has grown 60 billon miles since the first photo.

Hubble has captured similar events in the galaxy but the Eagle Nebula is described as the most “photogenic.”

“When you look at the environment of the Eagle Nebula or other star-forming regions, you’re looking at exactly the kind of nascent environment that our Sun formed in,” Scowen said.

The Hubble Space Telescope has been in service for 25 years. Photo courtesy of NASA and the European Space Agency
The Hubble Space Telescope has been in service for 25 years. Photo courtesy of NASA and the European Space Agency

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