Stars Creation
Startling Views of Stars' Birth

The Eagle Nebula was photographed by Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Arizona State University, using the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 on board NASA's Hubble Space Telescope on April 1, 1995.

Monstrous columns of cold gas and dust, captured in a stunning photograph by the Hubble Space Telescope, are giving scientists an unprecedented view of stars being formed "right in front of our eyes." Views of the 6 trillion-mile Eagle Nebula, released by NASA in November 2, 1995 , teach astronomers why stars grow to the size they do.

Eagle Nebula Basic Facts:
Age:           The Eagle Nebula is two million years old, the EGGs will live for another 10-20,000 years.
Location:   In the constellation Serpens, the Serpent, alongside the southern Milky Way.
Distance:  About 7,000 light years from Earth.
Size:           The gaseous towers, 6 trillion miles long, our Solar System would fit comfortably inside an EGG. The column is about two light years from top to bottom.
Nebula:    The Word Nebula comes from the Greek word for cloud.
 
Basic Definitions:
EGGs is an acronym for "Evaporating Gaseous Globules," but it is also a word that describes what these objects are. Forming inside at least some of the EGGs are embryonic stars -stars that abruptly stop growing when the EGGs are uncovered and they are separated from the larger reservoir of gas from which they were drawing mass. Eventually, the stars themselves emerge from the EGGs as the EGGs themselves succumb to photoevaporation.

This page Created by  Cyrus Marvasti 1998