The Pillars of Creation

The most famous photograph of the sky

You need a telescope

The Pillars of Creation — The columns of gas and dust of the Pillars, with the dark areas where new stars are forming.

The numbers

What it is: A world-famous photographBy the Hubble Space Telescope
What it shows: Columns of gas and dustIn the Eagle Nebula
When it was taken: April 1, 1995
What is inside: Stars being formedIn the darkest areas

To get an idea

They are columns of gas and dust several light-years tall, not rock formations.

They are still standing like the pinnacles the wind leaves behind when it has carried the sand away.

Fun facts

These are not in the book: there was no room on paper.

The dark areas inside the columns are thought to be protostars, stars that are still forming.
The columns are several light-years tall: compared with them, the Solar System is a speck.
They are still standing because they are the densest part, while the light gas has been blown away.
What blew the gas away is the light of the young, powerful stars that switched on nearby.
There are similar structures elsewhere in the sky, like the ones nicknamed the Mountains of Creation.

Test yourself

The first question is the one printed under the QR code, with the answer the book did not give. The other four only exist here.

Question 1 of 5★ is the one from your book

What are the Pillars of Creation?

Question 2 of 5

What are the columns made of?

Question 3 of 5

What nebula are they in?

Question 4 of 5

What is in their darkest areas?

Question 5 of 5

Why are the columns still standing?

Riddles

I am not a thing but a picture, and yet I am more famous than the huge cloud I show. I was taken on the first day of April, many years ago, by a telescope in orbit. What am I?

We look like fingers of rock as tall as the gaps between the stars, but we are made of dust: we are still standing only because we are the toughest part. What are we?

Our name speaks of something coming into the world, and it is not just poetry: in our darkest spots there are suns being born. What are we?

Try it yourself

Activity 1

Compare the 1995 photograph with more recent ones of the same subject: the instruments have improved, and you can tell.

Activity 2

With a backyard telescope the Eagle Nebula looks like a puff: you cannot see the columns. You need a big mirror and a long exposure.

The words

space telescope: A telescope put in orbit, away from the blur of the atmosphere.

Sources: Wikidata (Q1367968), Wikipedia (Pilastri della Creazione).