2014 Hubble WFC3/UVIS Image of M16

Stsci_2015-01c_1024

stsci_2015-01c January 5th, 2015

Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has revisited the famous Pillars of Creation, revealing a sharper and wider view of the structures in this visible-light image. Astronomers combined several Hubble exposures to assemble the wider view. The towering pillars are about 5 light-years tall. The dark, finger-like feature at bottom right may be a smaller version of the giant pillars. The new image was taken with Hubble's versatile and sharp-eyed Wide Field Camera 3. The pillars are bathed in the blistering ultraviolet light from a grouping of young, massive stars located off the top of the image. Streamers of gas can be seen bleeding off the pillars as the intense radiation heats and evaporates it into space. Denser regions of the pillars are shadowing material beneath them from the powerful radiation. Stars are being born deep inside the pillars, which are made of cold hydrogen gas laced with dust. The pillars are part of a small region of the Eagle Nebula, a vast star-forming region 6,500 light-years from Earth. The colors in the image highlight emission from several chemical elements. Oxygen emission is blue, sulfur is orange, and hydrogen and nitrogen are green.

Provider: Space Telescope Science Institute

Image Source: https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2015/news-2015-01

Curator: STScI, Baltimore, MD, USA

Image Use Policy: http://hubblesite.org/copyright/

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
M16 Eagle Nebula NGC 6611
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Appearance > Emission

Distance

Universescale1
6,500 light years
Stsci_2015-01c_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 18h 18m 53.9s
DEC = -13° 48’ 52.8”
Orientation
North is 34.9° CCW
Field of View
4.5 x 4.7 arcminutes
Constellation
Serpens

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Hubble (WFC3) Optical ([O III]) 502.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFC3) Optical (Halpha [N II]) 657.0 nm
Red Hubble (WFC3) Optical ([S II]) 673.0 nm
14-Sep
Spectrum_base
Blue
Green
Red
Stsci_2015-01c_1280
×
ID
2015-01c
Subject Category
B.4.2.1  
Subject Name
M16, Eagle Nebula, NGC 6611
Credits
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Release Date
2015-01-05T00:00:00
Lightyears
6,500
Redshift
6,500
Reference Url
https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2015/news-2015-01
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
6,500 light-years (2,000 parsecs)
Facility
Hubble, Hubble, Hubble
Instrument
WFC3, WFC3, WFC3
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Red
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
[O III], Halpha [N II], [S II]
Central Wavelength
502, 657, 673
Start Time
2014-09-02T00:00:00, 2014-09-02T00:00:00, 2014-09-02T00:00:00
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
1
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
2000.0
Reference Value
274.72468965475, -13.81466024872
Reference Dimension
6780.00, 7071.00
Reference Pixel
1707.44348955848, 5222.04610874260
Scale
-0.00001108720, 0.00001108720
Rotation
34.91662402222
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
World Coordinate System resolved using PinpointWCS 0.9.2 revision 218+ by the Chandra X-ray Center
Creator (Curator)
STScI
URL
http://hubblesite.org
Name
Space Telescope Science Institute Office of Public Outreach
Email
outreach@stsci.edu
Telephone
410-338-4444
Address
3700 San Martin Drive
City
Baltimore
State/Province
MD
Postal Code
21218
Country
USA
Rights
http://hubblesite.org/copyright/
Publisher
STScI
Publisher ID
stsci
Resource ID
STSCI-H-p1501c-f-6780x7071.tif
Resource URL
https://mast.stsci.edu/api/latest/Download/file?uri=mast:OPO/product/STSCI-H-p1501c-f-6780x7071.tif
Related Resources
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2015/01
Metadata Date
2022-07-06T00:00:00
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
6,500 light years

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