1. The Science behind the Eagle Nebula Image
Howard E. Bond
Space Telescope Science Institute
and
Co-founder, Hubble Heritage Team

2. Dust pillar in the Eagle Nebula, Messier 16 Credit: NASA, ESA,
and the Hubble
Heritage Team

3. Dust pillar in the Eagle Nebula, Messier 16 What’s this?
Credit: NASA, ESA,
and the Hubble
Heritage Team

4. The Hubble Heritage Program
Founded in 1998 to bring the most compelling Hubble images to the public
Main criterion is pictorial beauty, with scientific interest also considered
Images are taken from archive, sometimes supplemented by new observations obtained by the Heritage team through Director’s Discretionary time, and processed for release

5. The Hubble Heritage Program
Some observations, including the Eagle Nebula Pillar released today, are entirely new images obtained by Heritage team
Prizes & honors:
Images on US & British postage stamps
2003 Klumpke-Roberts Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for contributions to public appreciation of astronomy

6. The Hubble Heritage Gallery
Visit our website:

7. Location of M16 in Milky Way
Approx 6500 lt-yr from Earth, in constellation Serpens

8. Amateur Photograph of M16
M16 is an emission nebula or H II region;
red color is due to ionized hydrogen gas

9. Professional Photograph of M16
T. Rector,
Kitt Peak
36-inch

10. Location of 1995 Hubble Image
T. Rector,
Kitt Peak
36-inch

11. The Famous WFPC2 Image
“Pillars of
Creation”

12. Locations of ACS & WFPC2 Images

13. How Big is it?

14. What’s Going on Here?

15. Star Formation in the Eagle Nebula
Dense cloud of interstellar gas, molecules, & dust contracts under its own gravity
Massive, hot, blue stars form inside the cloud
Stellar winds and UV light push gas & dust away
Dense clouds can resist this erosion longer, forming pillars pointing back toward hot stars

16. Cluster of hot, young stars, recently formed from dust & gas
Dense dust
& gas

17. UV radiation & winds create cavity
around hot stars

18. Pillars are denser regions that
resist erosion

19. A Geological Analog: Hoodoos

20. A Geological Analog: Hoodoos
Easily eroded rock
Resistant rock
prevents erosion,
creating a
“pillar”

21. Closeup of Tip of Pillar

22. Gas evaporating off pillar
Blue = oxygen atoms ionized by UV light
Red = cooler hydrogen &
nitrogen ions
Dust & gas compressed
by stellar winds, forming
new stars—currently
visible only in infrared
light
Dark = dense dust &
molecules

23. Visible-light and Infrared Images
IR reveals
very young
stars
embedded
In dust
Hubble
Infrared Space Observatory

24. Summary
The pillars in the Eagle Nebula illustrate some of the complex events that accompany the formation of new stars
First-generation stars produce a cavity in their dust cocoons with pillars pointing back to the hot young stars

25. Summary contd.
Second-generation stars can form within the pillars due to compression of the dust and gas
Within a few million years, the pillars will completely disappear, leaving only a cluster of newly formed stars