The Pillars Of Creation Haven’t Been Destroyed, Say New NASA Images
“Near-infrared observations can see through the dust, revealing a glittering tapestry of young, hot stars inside. But at longer wavelengths, cooler-temperature objects show up. Mid-infrared light revealed that a diffuse heat source was warming the nebula, suggesting a recent supernova. While the far-infrared showed where the gas is evaporating, we needed X-rays to know if the pillars were being destroyed.”
In a stunning new release, NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory has put out a wide-field view of a large portion of the Eagle Nebula, including the famed Pillars of Creation. All told, some 1,700 X-ray sources were identified, perhaps 2/3rds of which are inside the nebula. There are proto-stars, young stars, and stellar corpses. But conspicuously missing from the entire field-of-view is any evidence of a supernova remnant. In 2007, infrared data from Spitzer suggested that there may have been a recent supernova, and hence the pillars may already have been destroyed. The new Chandra data weighs in on that, giving a definitive “no” for an answer.