Image 1 Caption: The 3 pillars of dust-laden gas in the Eagle nebula (M16) from HST---they are somewhat extravagantly called the Pillars of Creation.

Features:

1. The Eagle nebula is a star forming regions 1.740(130) kps (5,700(400) ly) away in constellation Serpens.

2. The image is false color. Red shows emission from singly-ionized sulfur (S) atoms. Green shows emission from hydrogen (i.e., mainly the red atomic hydrogen Hα line) Blue shows light emitted by doubly-ionized oxygen atoms.

3. The pillars are protruberances from a molecular cloud that is mainly below them in the image. The tallest is about 1 lyr long.

4. Above the pillars and off the image are OB stars that formed at an earlier epoch of star formation. Those young stars emit ultraviolet (UV) radiation that is evaporating the pillars.

5. The pillars contain small DENSE CORES or protostar or very young stars contained in dangling globules from the pillars. The stars that will appear when the dust and gas globules are evaporated.

   Near the lower left of the center region there is a dangling globule that appears to have newborn star emerging.

   

6. Image 2 Caption: "NASA's's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has revisited the famous Pillars of Creation, originally photographed in 1995, revealing a sharper and wider view of the structures in this image in visible band (fiducial range 0.4--0.7 μm). Astronomers combined several HST exposures to assemble the wider field of view (FOV). The towering pillars are about 5 light-years (lyr) tall. The dark, finger-like feature at bottom right may be a smaller version of the giant pillars. The new image was taken with the HST's versatile and sharp-eyed Wide Field Camera 3.

   The Pillars of Creation are bathed in the blistering ultraviolet light (ultraviolet band (fiducial range 0.01--0.4 μm)) from a grouping of young, massive stars located off the top of the image. Streamers of gas can be seen bleeding off the pillars as the intense electromagnetic radiation (EMR) heats and evaporates them into space. Denser regions of the pillars are shadowing material beneath them from the powerful EMR. Stars are being born deep inside the pillars, which are made of cold neutral molecular hydrogen gas laced with interstellar dust. The pillars are part of a small region of the >Eagle Nebula (M16, NGC 6611), a vast star forming region 1.740(13) kpc (5700(400) lyr) from Earth.

   The colors in Image 2 highlight emission from several chemical elements: oxygen emission is blue, sulfur is orange, and hydrogen and nitrogen are green. Note Image 2 is somewhat false color.

   A number of Herbig-Haro object jets lengthened noticeably in the 19-year interval between Image 1 and Image 2."

   (Somewhat edited.)

   

7. Image 3 Caption: "The Pillars of Creation are set off in a kaleidoscope of color in NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's (JWST, 2021--2041?) image in the near-infrared (NIR, fiducial range 0.750--1.4 μm). The pillars look like arches and spires rising out of a desert landscape, but are filled with semi-transparent gas and dust, and ever changing. This is a region where young stars are forming – or have barely burst from their dusty cocoons as they continue to form.

   Newly formed stars are the scene-stealers in this Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) image. These are the bright red orbs that sometimes appear with eight diffraction spikes. When knots with sufficient mass form within the pillars, they begin to collapse under their own gravity, slowly heat up, and eventually begin shining brightly.

   Along the edges of the pillars are wavy lines that look like lava. These are ejections from stars that are still forming. Young stars periodically shoot out supersonic jets that can interact within clouds of material, like these thick pillars of gas and dust. This sometimes also results in bow shocks, which can form wavy patterns like a boat does as it moves through water. These young stars are estimated to be only a few hundred thousand years old, and will continue to form for millions of years.

   Although it may appear that near-infrared light has allowed Webb to “pierce through” the background to reveal great cosmic distances beyond the pillars, the interstellar medium stands in the way, like a drawn curtain.

   This is also the reason why there are no distant galaxies in this view. This translucent layer of gas blocks our view of the deeper universe. Plus, dust is lit up by the collective light from the packed “party” of stars that have burst free from the pillars. It's like standing in a well-lit room looking out a window – the interior light reflects on the pane, obscuring the scene outside and, in turn, illuminating the activity at the party inside.

   The JWST's new view of the Pillars of Creation will help researchers revamp models of star formation. By identifying far more precise star populations, along with the quantities of gas and dust in the region, they will begin to build a clearer understanding of how stars form and burst out of star formation regions over millions of years

   The Pillars of Creation are a small region within >Eagle Nebula (M16, NGC 6611), a vast star forming region 1.740(13) kpc (5700(400) lyr) from Earth."

   (Somewhat edited).

Images:

1. Credit/Permission: NASA, Hubble Space Telescope (HST, 1990--c.2035), 1995 / Public domain.
   Download site: Wikipedia: File:Eagle nebula pillars.jpg.
   Image link: Itself.
   Local file: local link: eagle_nebula_hst.html.
   
2. Credit/Permission: NASA, Hubble Space Telescope (HST, 1990--c.2035), 2014 (uploaded to Wikipedia by User:Crisco, 2015) / Public domain.
   Image link: Wikipedia:File: Pillars of creation 2014 HST WFC3-UVIS full-res denoised.jpg.
   
3. Credit/Permission: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), James Webb Space Telescope (JWST, 2021--2041?), 2022 (uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by User:Habitator_terrae, 2022) / Public domain.
   Image link: Wikimedia Commons: File:Pillars of Creation (NIRCam Image).jpg.