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Hubble Space Telescope
A space-based observatory launched in 1990 by NASA and ESA, providing high-resolution images of astronomical objects in visible, ultraviolet, and near-infrared light.
Source: nasa.gov
APODs including "Hubble Space Telescope"
M16: Stars Upon Pillars
06/11/1995
Image Credit: NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
How do stars form? This stunning picture taken recently by the Hubble Space Telescope gives us a first hand glimpse. Here evaporating gaseous globules (EGGs) are captured emerging from pillars of molecular hydrogen and dust in the Eagle Nebula (M16). These pillars, dubbed "elephant trunks," are light years in length and are so dense that interior gas gravitationally contracts to form stars. At each pillars' end, the intense radiation of bright young stars causes low density gas to boil away, leaving stellar nurseries of dense EGGs exposed.