18 September 2016

The "Pillars of Creation"

"The pillars are composed of cool molecular hydrogen and dust that are being eroded by photoevaporation from the ultraviolet light of relatively close and hot stars. The leftmost pillar is about four light years in length. The finger-like protrusions at the top of the clouds are larger than our solar system, and are made visible by the shadows of evaporating gaseous globules (EGGs), which shields the gas behind them from intense UV flux.  EGGs are themselves incubators of new stars. The stars then emerge from the EGGs, which then are evaporated.
Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), via Wikipedia.

8 comments:

  1. you do know that that is just 'space crap', detritus, left overs. :-)

    I-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. "....shields the gas behind them from intense UV flux"
    um, wouldn't the 'intense UV flux' come from all around, all points ?
    Hence, no shielding ?

    Question everything - the truth shall set you FREEEE !!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Those pillars have fascinated me for a long time. Their size is unimaginable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, that's the main reason I posted it. The left "pillar" is four LIGHT-YEARS long...

      Delete
  4. I read that the pillars aren't actually there any more that they've been blown away by a nearby supernova, we just haven't seen it yet because of the light year/time difference. Really hard to imagine they're so ephemeral.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Amazing! Phenomenal! I'm glad you posted this.
    "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." Psalm 19:1

    ReplyDelete
  6. I know you're interested in sleep paralysis. Thought you might be interested in this:

    https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sleep-paralysis-9780199313808?cc=us&lang=en&

    Oxford University Press

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had not seen that; looks like a potential Christmas present for me.

      I certainly do have an "interest" - several file boxes full of medical articles and a bookshelf of relevant texts. I'd like to work more of my observations into the blog, but such posts take quite a while to write up.

      Thanks for the heads-up, Bub.

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...