'X'-ploring the Eagle Nebula and 'Pillars of Creation'

Credit: NASA/CXC/INAF/M.Guarcello et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI

The Eagle Nebula, also known as Messier 16, contains the young star cluster NGC 6611. It also the site of the spectacular star-forming region known as the Pillars of Creation, which is located in the southern portion of the Eagle Nebula.

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Source / Image Courtesy

Theyre known as the Pillars of Creation, but according to recent Spitzer observations these ghostly apparitions have already met their own destruction.

Hubble has not just one image for us, but two: as well as the new visible-light image the telescope used infrared light to produce a second breathtaking picture of the region.

Between them these images show the pillars in more detail than ever before.