Astronomy Picture of the Day

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                2018 December 2
                                      [2]
                          The Fairy of Eagle Nebula
Image Credit: NASA [3] , ESA [4] , The Hubble Heritage Team [5] , (STScI [6] /
                                  AURA [7] )

Explanation: The dust sculptures of the Eagle Nebula are evaporating. As
powerful starlight whittles away these cool cosmic mountains [8] , the
statuesque pillars [9]  that remain might be imagined as mythical beasts [10]
. Featured here [11]  is one of several striking dust pillars [12]  of the
Eagle Nebula [13] that might be described as a gigantic alien fairy [14] .
This fairy, however, is ten light years [15]  tall and spews radiation much
hotter than common fire [16] . The greater Eagle Nebula [17] , M16, is
actually a giant evaporating shell of gas and dust [18]  inside of which is a
growing cavity [19]  filled with a spectacular stellar nursery currently
forming an open cluster [20]  of stars. This great pillar, which is about
7,000 light years away, will likely evaporate away [21]  in about 100,000
years. The featured image [22]  in scientifically re-assigned colors [23]  was
released [24] in 2005 as part of the fifteenth anniversary celebration [25]
of the launch [26]  of the Hubble Space Telescope [27] .

  New: Instagram page features cool images recently submitted to APOD [28]
                   Tomorrow's picture: battling black holes

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [40] (MTU [41] ) & Jerry Bonnell [42]
                                  (UMCP [43] )
          NASA Official:  Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [44] .
              NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [45]
              A service of: ASD [46]  at NASA [47]  / GSFC [48]
                           & Michigan Tech. U. [49]
----------
Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1812/FairyPillar_Hubble_3857.jpg
  [3] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [4] https://www.esa.int/
  [5]
http://heritage.stsci.edu/commonpages/infoind...
  [6] http://www.stsci.edu/resources/
  [7] https://www.aura-astronomy.org/
  [8] ap071226.html
  [9] ap160424.html
  [10] http://www.pantheon.org/areas/bestiary/
  [11] http://hubblesite.org/image/1693
  [12] ap061022.html
  [13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Nebula
  [14] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairies
  [15] http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_dista...
  [16] ap180826.html
  [17] ap140216.html
  [18] ap030706.html
  [19] http://kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/tee...
  [20] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_cluster
  [21]
https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/...
how-quickly-are-the-pillars-of-creation-being-destroyed/
  [22] http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2005-...
  [23] http://bf-astro.com/hubblep.htm
  [24] http://heritage.stsci.edu/2005/12b/index.html
  [25] http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic0...
  [26] https://youtu.be/D8UsCXsO4gU
  [27] http://www.stsci.edu/hst/HST_overview/
  [28] https://www.instagram.com/universe_view_scree...
  [29] ap181201.html
  [30] archivepix.html
  [31] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [32] lib/aptree.html
  [33] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apo...
  [34] calendar/allyears.html
  [35] /apod.rss
  [36] lib/edlinks.html
  [37] lib/about_apod.html
  [38] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?dat...
  [39] ap181203.html
  [40] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [41] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [42] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnel...
  [43] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [44] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [45] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Priv...
  [46] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [47] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [48] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [49] http://www.mtu.edu/

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