Pillars of Creation redux.

[jmorgan]

Remember seeing this first time and thinking "wow".

Edit. This is a comparison between 1994 and 2014. Should have slipped that in the title.

Now they have revisited the scene of the crime.
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/...
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/...

Load up the high res TIFF side by side and there does appear to be some progress (or not if your ISM has just been blown away). There are comparison images to show what is going on as well.

More in that link, but here is a taster.

Image from Hubble web site
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/...

Edited by jmorgan on Wednesday 7th January 09:40

[danrc]

It's an absolutely incredible picture of something I don't (and probably will never) understand.

[jmorgan]

As I understand it. Gravity is what you are looking at, or rather the results.

The ISM (interstellar medium) collects and starts to form clouds, this comes from other stars deaths and can be affected by other stars going off, pushing particles here and there. As gravity does its bit, some parts of the clouds clump together more than others and stars and solar systems can start to form. As the star starts its main sequence, it can blow off its competitors stopping what they are doing. This is a region where lots of this is going on, sort of a fight to become top dog. Winners and losers and some lurkers that are far enough away from the big boys to be just right..... maybe.