Using the MUSE instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, the Eagle Nebula was studied in unprecedented detail, bringing a new perspective to the Pillars — large columns of dust and gas cocooning young stars sparking to life.
These young O and B-class stars are pumping out powerful ultraviolet radiation, destroying the remaining wisps of gas and dust, blasting out cavities in the material and carving the tell-tale shape of the Pillars of Creation that were first imaged in detail by the Hubble Space Telescope some 20 years ago.
MUSE has now added some depth to the Pillars, showing that the left pillar is facing us, but located behind NGC 6611 — a star cluster within the Eagle Nebula. The other pillars are located in front of NGC 6611. The tip of the left pillar is bearing the brunt of the powerful radiation from NGC 6611′s young stars, causing it to glow bright in reflected light. The tips of the other three pillars are facing away from us and are therefore darker.
Within the pillars are dense knots of gas, the locations of protostars in the process of being born.
Using observations such as this ESO view into the Eagle Nebula, scientists hope to better understand how O and B-class stars influence the production of subsequent stars within the nebula in which they themselves had been spawned. The intense radiation and powerful stellar winds can compress the remaining gas, correlling it to accumulate and spark new star formation. But they also destroy the star-foming material inside the nebula, hindering further star birth.
Which process dominates can transform the future landscapes of star-forming nebulae like the Pillars of Creation, so understanding their formative years by creating a 3-D look deep inside these clouds should help us better model the mechnics of stellar evolution.
Read more at Discovery News
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