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APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
The Fairy of Eagle Nebula
Explanation: The dust sculptures of the Eagle Nebula are evaporating. As powerful starlight whittles away these cool cosmic mountains , the statuesque pillars that remain might be imagined as mythical beasts . Pictured above is one of several striking dust pillars of the Eagle Nebula that might be described as a gigantic alien fairy . This fairy, however, is ten light years tall and spews radiation much hotter than common fire . The greater Eagle Nebula , M16, is actually a giant evaporating shell of gas and dust inside of which is a growing cavity filled with a spectacular stellar nursery currently forming an open cluster of stars. The above image in scientifically re-assigned colors was released in 2005 as part of the fifteenth anniversary celebration of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope .
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| Date | September 29, 2013 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Image Credit: The Hubble Heritage Team , ( STScI / AURA ), ESA , NASA |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |