Pillars of Creation

Pillars of Creation — nebula, explore its interactive 3D model in Cosmoscope.

Explore Pillars of Creation in an interactive 3D view of space. Inspect its astronomical data and the observations or reconstructions behind the model.

The most famous photograph in astronomy, in the round: towers of cold gas where new stars are condensing right now, lit and eaten away by the young stars above them.

Type

Star-forming pillars (Eagle Nebula, M16)

Distance

About 5,500 light-years, that of NGC 6611, the cluster lighting it

Tallest pillar

~4 light-years, base to tip

Imaged by

Hubble 1995 & 2014, Webb 2022

Fate

Slowly eroding under ultraviolet starlight

Shown here

NASA/STScI four-cloud reconstruction; NGC 6611’s stars are its Gaia DR3 members

Appearance

Dense dust and illuminated gas edges; fine structure illustrative

Explore Pillars of Creation in 3D

Pillars of Creation is placed in three-dimensional space using catalogue coordinates and an adopted astronomical distance. Rotate and zoom to explore the model. Stellar surfaces, gas structure and dust depths may be reconstructed or illustrative, as described in its facts; this is not live imagery from a telescope.