Pillars of Creation
Pillars of Creation (in German: columns of creation ) is the name of a formation with the Hubble Space Telescope in about 7000 light-years away Adler fog was photographed. The picture was taken on April 1, 1995, and the astronomers in charge were Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen from Arizona State University .
Information about the picture
The overall image was composed of a total of 32 individual images, which were recorded by four separate cameras of the Hubble telescope. The false colors in the picture are based on the molecular composition of the structures; For example, hydrogen is shown in green, (monovalent) sulfur in red and (divalent) oxygen in blue.
A piece of the recording is missing in the upper right corner of the picture. The reason for this is that one of the four recording cameras worked in a different resolution level than the other three in order to make smaller details visible in their image area. The images from this camera belonging to the image section were scaled to fit the other images.
Formation of new stars
The pillars extend four light years into space and are made of interstellar matter . They slowly erode through photoevaporation , thereby exposing bubbles consisting of molecular hydrogen and dust (English: evaporating gas globule ) at their tips , in which protostars form.
Possible destruction
In 2007, a research group led by Nicolas Flagey from the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale in Orsay near Paris made infrared images of the pillars of creation with the Spitzer space telescope . A cloud of hot gas and dust was observed in the region, which could have been caused by a supernova about 6000 years ago. The shock wave from this supernova may have already destroyed the pillars of creation, but due to the distance of 7,000 light years, the destruction would not be seen on Earth for about 1,000 years.
Astrophysicist Stephen Reynolds of North Carolina State University questions this interpretation. According to Reynolds, much stronger radiation of radio waves and X-rays should be observed in a supernova. In an interview with New Scientist , Reynolds suggests as an alternative explanation that the dust is heated by the stellar wind of massive stars, which would cause the formation to erode significantly more slowly.
Herschel space telescope
In 2011 the Pillars of Creation were observed again through the Herschel Space Telescope , but only in the far infrared range . These recordings led to a much deeper understanding of the processes in the Eagle Nebula.
Hubble's renewed observation
On the occasion of the 25th birthday of the Hubble Telescope, astronomers published a much higher resolution image of the pillars of creation in January 2015. It was again recorded by the Hubble telescope, which has since been equipped with improved optics , in the visible and in the short-wave infrared range.
Naming
The name describes on the one hand the columnar structure and on the other hand refers to the formation of stars within the formation.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Whitney Clavin: 'Elephant Trunks' in Space , accessed November 26, 2013.
- ^ Embryonic Stars Emerge from Interstellar "Eggs" . HST Science Institute website, accessed November 26, 2013.
- ↑ Juliet Datson, "Pillars of Creation" Gone with the Wind? In: Stars and Space . 4, 2007. Article online
- ^ Richard Lovett: Photo in the News: Supernova Destroy's "Pillars of Creation" . Retrieved March 13, 2011.
- ↑ David Shiga: 'Pillars of creation' destroyed by supernova. January 10, 2007, accessed November 26, 2013.
- ^ Revisiting the 'Pillars of Creation' . NASA . January 18, 2012. Retrieved January 20, 2012.
- ↑ Hubble Goes High-Definition to Revisit Iconic 'Pillars of Creation' . NASA . January 5, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2015.