Pillars of Creation

Pillars of Creation — nebula, shown live in Cosmoscope, a real-time 3D map of the universe.

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
5,700 light-years
Tallest pillar
~4 light-years, base to tip
Imaged by
Hubble 1995 & 2014, Webb 2022
Fate
Slowly eroding under ultraviolet starlight
Shown here
Real 3D reconstruction (Chandra/ESO data)

Seeing Pillars of Creation in real time

Pillars of Creation is placed at its true position on the sky and at its real measured distance, not as a flat backdrop. Fly out from the Sun in the live 3D view and watch it change from a point of light into structure as you approach, with the scale bar showing just how far out you have travelled.

Interactive universe A living map of the solar system
Interactive universe
Waking the solar system…