The Pillars of Creation (infrared close-up view) | ESO

The Pillars of Creation (infrared close-up view) | ESO

This shows a zoom into the center of an infrared view of the Pillar of Creation's columns and their immediate surroundings in more detail. The pillars themselves are less prominent than on the Hubble visible-light image of this region. This is because near-infrared light penetrates the thinner parts of the gas and dust clouds and only the heads remain opaque. A number of red objects can be seen associated with the pillars. Some of these are just background sources seen through the dust, but some are probably young stars embedded in the pillars. The purple arc near the bottom of the picture is Herbig-Haro object 216, a fast-moving clump of heated gas emanating from a young star.

Technical information: This image shows an enlarged section of the full mosaic covering 6.2 x 7.5 light-years (1.9 x 2.3 pc) centered on the pillars. North is up and East left.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/M.McCaughrean & M.Andersen (AIP)

Release Date: December 20, 2001

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