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Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Pillars of Creation

Pillars of Creation
Pillars of Creation These dark pillar-like structures are columns of cool interstellar hydrogen gas and dust that are also incubators for new stars. The pillars protrude from the interior wall of a dark molecular cloud like stalagmites from the floor of a cavern. They are part of the Eagle Nebula (also called M16), a nearby star-forming region 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Serpens. The Hubble Space Telescope captured these Pillars of Creation on April 1, 1995.