Close to the famous "Pillars of Creation" in the heart of the Eagle Nebula there is another beautiful region called "Stellar Spire". Appearing like a winged fairy-tale creature poised on a pedestal, this object is actually a billowing tower of cold gas and dust. The soaring tower is 9.5 light-years or about 57 trillion miles high, about twice the distance from our Sun to the next nearest star.
Stars in the Eagle Nebula are born in clouds of cold hydrogen gas that reside in chaotic neighborhoods, where energy from young stars sculpts fantasy-like landscapes in the gas. The tower may be a giant incubator for those newborn stars. A torrent of ultraviolet light from a band of massive, hot, young stars is eroding the pillar.
The starlight also is responsible for illuminating the tower's rough surface. Ghostly streamers of gas can be seen boiling off this surface, creating the haze around the structure and highlighting its three-dimensional shape. The column is silhouetted against the background glow of more distant gas.
The Image was reprocessed from the raw (Fits data) by the astrophotographer and founder of Cosmonity Michał Ostaszewski using the latest techniques and tools which was not available at the time of capturing this image by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004. That's we can offer the sharpest and most detailed print of this image available on the market.
Data Credits: NASA, ESA
Image Processing: Michał OstaszewskI