Pillars of Desolation

[MGmirkin]

(Pillars of Desolation; Apr 30, 2008)

Rather than being a “stellar nursery” the famous dust clouds in the Eagle Nebula may have already been destroyed.

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[hermit_of_chad]

> 'In the larger image from which the TPOD is taken, the pillars appear
> to be more like ejecta from the adjacent cloud mass, not dissimilar to
> coronal mass ejections, except they are not looping back to the
> surfaces they spring from. The TPOD group seems to be associated with
> a conical swelling of the cloud mass on the left of the larger image.
> Is it therefore possible that the cloud masses are charged differently
> and the ejections are associated with discharges between the cloud
> masses?'

[Steve Smith]

The Eagle Nebula is most likely discharging in several ways. The Pillars of Creation aren't the only structure that has been emphasized by Hubble images:

"The Fairy"



"The Pillars of Creation"



The tip of one of the Pillars appears to be in a glow-mode or arc-mode state:



As does this detail of the Fairy:



They're both within this center feature:



This one is the largest image:

Eagle Nebula

The vortex shapes and the long twisting filaments indicate that the Nebula is electrified.

[StefanR]

The Dark Tower in Scorpius

In silhouette against a crowded star field toward the constellation Scorpius, this dusty cosmic cloud evokes for some the image of an ominous dark tower. In fact, clumps of dust and molecular gas collapsing to form stars may well lurk within the dark nebula, a structure that spans almost 40 light-years across the gorgeous telescopic view. Known as a cometary globule, the swept-back cloud, extending from the upper right to the head (top of the tower) left and below center, is shaped by intense ultraviolet radiation from the OB association of very hot stars in NGC 6231, off the left edge of the scene. That energetic ultraviolet light also powers the globule's bordering reddish glow of hydrogen gas. Hot stars embedded in the dust can be seen as small bluish reflection nebulae. This dark tower, NGC 6231, and associated nebulae are about 5,000 light-years away.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080508.html