The Pillars of Creation in M16, the Eagle Nebula (MountainAir)

Celestial hemisphere: Southern · Constellation: Serpens (Ser) · Contains: Eagle Nebula · IC 4703 · LBN 67 · LBN 68 · M 16 · NGC 6611 · Sh2-49 · Star Queen · Star Queen nebula

Powered byPixInsight

The Pillars of Creation in M16, the Eagle Nebula

Powered byPixInsight

The Pillars of Creation in M16, the Eagle Nebula

Ever since I saw Hubble's first picture of the Pillars of Creation, I was enthralled. Like many of the James Webb Space Telescope images of today, Hubble's first images became the "viral images" of their era: in very short time I saw the Pillars of Creation printed in newspapers and magazines, but perhaps most impressive of all was when I saw the photo appear in a Star Trek episode almost immediately (further cementing my love of the show). It is considered one of Hubble's 10 Best Photos.

Discovered at Mount Wilson in 1920, the Pillars of Creation is an immense area of intense star formation. About 7,000 light years from Earth, the area is monstrous -- even the small protrusions at the top of the clouds are larger than our entire solar system.

The molecular hydrogen of the clouds is being eroded through photoevaporation from the extreme ultraviolet light of the newly-created stars, but there is some disagreement over how quickly this is happening. Data from the Spitzer Space Telescope has suggested that there may be a shock wave in the field. With an estimated age of 6,000 years, and the 7,000 light year distance from Earth, it has been theorized that a supernova may have already destroyed the Pillars of Creation. In a millennia we shall know for sure.

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	6890472
PixInsight job	6Q42KXPE51E9OOV8PUOHEEHBK30JSZAW
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	18h18m47s.497
RA (top/left)	18h17m56s.411
RA (top/right)	18h17m16s.887
RA (bottom/right)	18h19m38s.258
RA (bottom/left)	18h20m18s.616

Dec (center)	-13°48′20″.38
Dec (top/left)	-14°17′27″.35
Dec (top/right)	-13°25′40″.32
Dec (bottom/right)	-13°19′15″.36
Dec (bottom/left)	-14°11′00″.42

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

The Pillars of Creation in M16, the Eagle Nebula

The Pillars of Creation in M16, the Eagle Nebula

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

Sky plot

Histogram

		...
You have no new notifications.

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

The Pillars of Creation in M16, the Eagle Nebula

The Pillars of Creation in M16, the Eagle Nebula

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

Sky plot

Histogram

Notifications

AstroBin is in READ ONLY mode

Sorry :-(

Sorry :-(

Sorry :-(

Are you really sure?

Warning!

Warning!

Are you sure?

Report abuse

Slideshow settings

IOTD/TP stats (last [x] days)

Distribution of astrophotographers

Distribution of subject types

Distribution of data sources

Sorry

Sorry

Share

Upload new revision

Upload uncompressed source (XISF/FITS/PSD/TIFF)

Delete image and all its revisions?

Delete original image?

Delete all other versions?

Delete all revisions?

IOTD/TP stats

The following people like this image

The following people bookmarked this image

Warning

Flag malfunctioning thumbnails

Contains

Remove yourself as a collaborator

Plate-solving information