Hubble Space Telescope

Pillars of Creation ( Eagle Constellation- Aquila)

The pillars are molecular hydrogen and dust clouds created from past generations of dying stars (nova and supernova).  They provide a stellar nursery where new stars are forming as the gas and dust collapses under the force of gravity.  I saw these clouds through my refracting telescope in the garden last summer when the constellation Altair was relatively high in south.  I created these images from data I downloaded from the Hubble Space Telescope archive.  Thanks to NASA and MAST for the free public access to this wonderful archive of knowledge.