Image ssc2007-01d

This image composite highlights the pillars of the Eagle nebula, as seen in infrared light by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (bottom) and visible light by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (top insets).

The top right inset focuses on the three famous pillars, dubbed the "Pillars of Creation," which were photographed by Hubble in 1995. Hubble's optical view shows the dusty towers in exquisite detail, while Spitzer's infrared eyes penetrate through the thick dust, revealing ghostly transparent structures. The same effect can be seen for the pillar outlined in the top left box.

In both cases, Spitzer's view exposes newborn stars that were hidden inside the cocoon-like pillars, invisible to Hubble. These stars were first uncovered by the European Space Agency's Infrared Satellite Observatory. In the Spitzer image, two embedded stars are visible at the tip and the base of the left pillar, while one star can be seen at the tip of the tallest pillar on the right.

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About the Object	Object Name: Eagle Nebula Object Type: Star-Forming Region Position (J2000): RA: 18h18m53s Dec: -13d45m25s Distance: 2 kiloparsecs (~6500 light-years) Constellation: Serpens
About the Data	Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/N. Flagey (IAS/SSC) & A. Noriega-Crespo (SSC/Caltech) Instrument: IRAC and MIPS Wavelength: 4.5 microns, 8.0 microns, 24 microns and 70 microns. Field of View: 28 x 32 arcminutes Orientation: North is 88.4 degrees counter-clockwise from up Release Date: January 9, 2007
Observers	S. Carey (SSC/Caltech) A. Noriega-Crespo (SSC/Caltech) F. Boulanger (IAS, France) S. Price (AFRL) R. Indebetouw (U. Virginia) N. Flagey (IAS/SSC) R. Paladini (SSC/Caltech) S. Shenoy (SSC/Caltech) F. Marleau (SSC/Caltech) K. Kraemer (AFRL) D. Mizuno (Boston College) D. Padgett (SSC/Caltech) T. Kuchar (Boston College)

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Unwrapping the Pillars