The pillars are that "hand" in the middle. It's a famous photo taken by Hubble telescope in 1995. "These elephant trunks had been discovered by John Charles Duncan in 1920 on a plate made with the Mount Wilson Observatory 60-inch telescope"

Usually they're shown more zoomed in(newer photo from 2014) https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Pillars_of_creation_2014_HST_WFC3-UVIS_full-res_denoised.jpg

drmirage809 t1_jc03kz2 wrote on March 13, 2023 at 1:28 AM

#2,217,904

Replying to MrSnow702 (#2,217,620)

They are what is known as a stellar nursery. Inside these pillars of gas stars are being formed in truly breathtaking numbers. Looking up close you can see the young stars shining through the clouds.

Sadly they no longer exists. The light we are seeing is about 7000 thousand years old and in those years they've probably been blown apart by the stellar wind of all the stars that have formed inside them.

toatsblooby t1_jc09hwy wrote on March 13, 2023 at 2:15 AM

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And the beautiful eagle nebula to the left of the pillars in this shot!

TheNebulaGuy t1_jc0a0ud wrote on March 13, 2023 at 2:19 AM

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Did you take this? If so do you mind sharing your acquisition details? I'll be attempting the eagle nebula sometime this year.

[deleted] t1_jc0t6g0 wrote on March 13, 2023 at 5:12 AM

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[deleted] t1_jc168n2 wrote on March 13, 2023 at 8:04 AM

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iKillBugs4Work_AMA t1_jc1elzw wrote on March 13, 2023 at 10:05 AM

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Ok, I'm very very new to space and astronomy stuff. Are each of those shining lights stars? Each with their own solar system? I know there are an absolutely incomprehensible amount of stars in the universe. But, if this is just one section of the universe, and there are that many stars in this picture alone, it's even more mind-boggling now.

Or are the shining lights/dots different things? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I'm just trying to understand the universe a bit more and I think space in general is super, super cool. And terrifying. Definitely that too

[deleted] t1_jc1r7xg wrote on March 13, 2023 at 12:32 PM

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[deleted] t1_jc1uh1q wrote on March 13, 2023 at 1:01 PM

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Splive t1_jc1uv4g wrote on March 13, 2023 at 1:05 PM

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Replying to drmirage809 (#2,217,904)

Wait really? I'm so used to thinking about galactic level events happening over millions or billions of years. Had not expected that such a change could be on the timeline of humanity.

anima99 t1_jc2kn8g wrote on March 13, 2023 at 4:10 PM

#2,221,039

Replying to iKillBugs4Work_AMA (#2,219,427)

Each star doesn't have to be a "system," per se. They can simply be massive balls of gas with rocks/ice/metals around them.

They may form into planet-sized chunks, but it's difficult to determine given their distance. Not to mention some of these stars don't live long enough to form their own systems as they can sometimes collide or spin too fast and just lose form.

Those stars may also be explosions or supernovas, but this is the limit of what I have personally read about without Googling them again.

iKillBugs4Work_AMA t1_jc2xp0a wrote on March 13, 2023 at 5:35 PM

#2,221,574

Replying to anima99 (#2,221,039)

Got it. Thanks for the detailed explanation. I know what my next research rabbit hole will be. So much interesting stuff in a place that's so unknown to us.

DaveMcW t1_jc34gzo wrote on March 13, 2023 at 6:18 PM

#2,221,880

Replying to drmirage809 (#2,217,904)

The theory of special relativity says that our reference frame where they still exist is perfectly valid.

The reference frame in the middle of the cluster where they no longer exist is also valid.

toatsblooby t1_jc34jap wrote on March 13, 2023 at 6:18 PM

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Replying to iKillBugs4Work_AMA (#2,219,427)

This section of space often called "the eagle nebula" is 7000 light years from earth. As I understand it the only thing bright enough to form those shining lights from such a distance would be other stars! (This nebula is still in the milky way so as I understand it those bright lights shouldn't be other galaxies, as they'd be hidden by dust and closer stars.)

I don't know exactly how big of "a spot" this would be in the sky, but my gut tells me this entire image would only take up a chunk of the sky about the size of a small pebble held in your outstretched hand. Space is unfathomably big.

One of the first James Webb images of the deep field shows thousands of GALAXIES in a single image, as well as some stars in our own galaxy in the foreground. They aimed the telescope at a very dark section of the sky for many hours to actually capture enough light to produce the image!