Friday, September 18, 2015

The Pillars of Creation

One of the most iconic images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope is of the pillars of cloud and dust in the Eagle Nebula (M16), ubbed "The Pillars of Creation.."  A diffuse, emission nebula, the Eagle is a fine sight in even small scopes. This image, taken with the Xtreme and the 14 inch scope, captures the complexity of this star-forming region in our own galaxy. The dark pillars consist of hydrogen gas and dust. Inside them are "knots" of denser gas in which stars are being formed. The Eagle was very low on the horizon when I inaged it, but this pic captures its essence pretty well.

The Eagle as captured


The Eagle, Processed to show more nebulousity

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16 hour integration of the Heart Nebula with the Dwarf 3 telescope

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