﻿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 September 25 [2]The featured image is of a long dust filament that appears dark in front of a lighter background. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. The Fairy of Eagle Nebula Image Credit: Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, [5]The Hubble Heritage Team ([6]STScI/[7]AURA) Explanation: The dust sculptures of the Eagle Nebula are evaporating. As powerful starlight whittles away these [8]cool cosmic mountains, the [9]statuesque pillars that remain might be imagined as [10]mythical beasts. Featured [11]here is one of [12]several striking dust pillars of the [13]Eagle Nebula that might be described as a gigantic alien [14]fairy. This fairy, however, is ten [15]light years tall and spews radiation much hotter than [16]common fire. The [17]greater Eagle Nebula, M16, is actually a giant evaporating shell of gas and [18]dust inside of which is a growing [19]cavity filled with a spectacular stellar nursery currently forming an [20]open cluster of stars. This great pillar, which is about 7,000 light years away, will [21]likely evaporate away in about 100,000 years. The [22]featured image is in scientifically [23]re-assigned colors and was taken by the Earth-orbiting [24]Hubble Space Telescope. Tomorrow's picture: earth without water __________________________________________________________________ [25]< | [26]Archive | [27]Submissions | [28]Index | [29]Search | [30]Calendar | [31]RSS | [32]Education | [33]About APOD | [34]Discuss | [35]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [36]Robert Nemiroff ([37]MTU) & [38]Jerry Bonnell ([39]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [40]Specific rights apply. [41]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [42]ASD at [43]NASA / [44]GSFC, [45]NASA Science Activation & [46]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2209/FairyPillar_Hubble_3857.jpg 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. https://www.esa.int/ 5. http://heritage.stsci.edu/commonpages/infoindex/ourproject/moreproject.html 6. http://www.stsci.edu/resources/ 7. https://www.aura-astronomy.org/ 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap071226.html 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201206.html 10. http://www.pantheon.org/areas/bestiary/ 11. https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2005/12/1693-Image.html 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220314.html 13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Nebula 14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairies 15. https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180826.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140216.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html 19. https://www.kidshealth.org/en/kids/cavity.html 20. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_cluster 21. https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/06/26/how-quickly-are-the-pillars-of-creation-being-destroyed/ 22. https://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2005-12 23. http://bf-astro.com/hubblep.htm 24. https://www.stsci.edu/hst/HST_overview/ 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220924.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 29. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 34. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=220925 35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220926.html 36. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 37. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 38. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 39. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 40. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 41. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 42. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 43. https://www.nasa.gov/ 44. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 45. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 46. http://www.mtu.edu/