The Eagle Nebula

Once more, Mr. Scalzi sends us tripping into outer space, this time not with a tale from the pages of his soon to be released science fiction novel, but with a photo taken by NASA.

The photo he chose is here at ByTheWay. He challenges us to find a Hubble photo on the internet as well. Writes John:

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Show off a favorite space photo from NASA. Challenge for the folks who participated in the Photo Shoot last year: Pick a new photo you love. Given all the amazing photos from NASA over the years of space exploration, this shouldn't be difficult.

The reason I specify pictures from NASA, incidentally, is that they are not copyrighted, so you have every right to use them however you want. You already paid for them with your taxes after all (except for those of you who aren't from the US, but we won't tell if you won't).

I didn't participate last year. But I selected this photo:

                                       

It's been one of my favorites ever since I saw it in a calendar a couple of years ago. Called Gas Pillars in the Eagle Nebula (M16): Pillars of Creation in a Star Forming Region. Click here for a larger version of it. It's quite a shot.

My guess is that I'm not going to be the only one selecting this photo. I'm sure someone chose it last year. What can I say? It's mysterious and splendid in this three dimensional image.

Looking at the picture, you wouldn't expect it to be merely light reflecting off of pillar-like clouds of dust and gases in space, but that is what you are looking at! I will not pretend to know and understand the description of its creation or even the process that created it, though it is artistically and scientifically explained in the text accompanying the photo.

Here's what I understand: God made it.

Simple, clear, and easy to understand when you believe that God made all things in the universe.

What is most interesting is that forming within these pillars of cool hydrogen gases are raw materials for building new stars...embryonic stars! Inside the pillars of gases are globules of even denser gases, containing the young stars. Someone has cleverly named them EGGs (Evaporating Gaseous Globules). If you are wondering how big one of these EGGs are, my source says that our solar system would fit nicely inside of one of them.

How they know this, I don't know, not my field of expertise... but here are some facts about this nebula: it is 2 million years old, is 7,000 light years from earth, contains the mass of 12,500 suns, and the right column is about one light year from top to bottom. Click here for source. 

If you want to see it for yourself, probably with a telescope, look into the Serpent constellation.

To read the complete story behind this picture and the subject of the photo, go to the Hubble Site News Center here. 

For starters.