THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM

207-780-4249       www.usm.maine.edu/planet
70 Falmouth Street  Portland, Maine 04103
43.6667° N,                    70.2667° W
Founded January 1970

        "Heavens on the half shell."

The Pillars of Creation

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Happy Birthday, Sister!
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TUNE IN:

"WMPG: Radio Astronomy"

90.9 FM    1:00 p.m. Friday, April 29th.

"Round table of the nights"

A discussion panel about the latest astronomical news.

If you miss an episode, go to the archives:
http://usm.maine.edu/planet/radio-astronomy-radio-program
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Today, ladies and gentlemen, we engage in some simple art appreciation.  The celestial art known as the Star Queen, or Eagle Nebula.  Our particular emphasis will be on the region within the nebula called the "Pillars of Creation."

Behold:

Located within Serpens, a constellation presently located in the eastern very late evening sky, the Star Queen Nebula's center is approximately 7,000 light years distant. Consisting of a star cluster with more than 450 members and various star forming regions, the Star Queen Nebula is undoubtedly one of the most exquisitely beautiful vistas within our part of the galaxy.       The nebula's most distinctive feature is the Pillars of Creation, consisting of three towering hydrogen clouds protruding away from the nebula's interior.  The resemblance of these towers to an eagle's talons lent the structure its traditional name of "Eagle Nebula."   The more recent nickname, "The Star Queen," attributed to R. Burham, author of "Burnham's Celestial Handbook." seems the more appropriate sobriquet for such an elegantly lovely and splendidly star adorned structure.

The Pillars of Creation, consisting primarily of hydrogen gas,  extend more than nine light years away from the nebula.  To put this value in context, nine light years is more than twice the separation distance between the Sun and Alpha Centauri.     Dark clouds seen around the pillars, each one greater in extent than our whole solar system, are protostar regions: places where stars are currently forming.    Images captured by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory suggest that these clouds are not physically associated with the pillars, themselves, but are scattered along the same area.

  In fact, the famous Pillars of Creation might no longer exist.   As these pillars are thousands of light years from us, we're seeing them as they were thousands of years ago.    The Spitzer Space Telescope detected super heated gases within the area, suggesting the presence of a supernova: the explosion of a highly massive star.     Believed to have occurred more than 8,000 years ago, this supernova's shock waves most likely dispersed the pillars' constituent gases into space.    The pillars still appear to us as the light related to the dispersion hasn't yet reached us.     However, future generations of astronomers will likely observed this dissolution: one that has already happened.

Therefore, today's art work is no longer part of the Universe, but just a phantom image that we, being so far away, can still behold and admire.