Hubble Space Telescope’s stunning new view of ‘Pillars of Creation’

ONE of the most iconic space images ever has been updated, as the Hubble Space Telescope revisits the ‘Pillars of Creation’.

ONE of the most iconic space images ever seen has been given an update, as the Hubble Space Telescope revisits the ‘Pillars of Creation’.

The original photo, taken in 1995, revealed three giant columns of gas bathed in the ultraviolet light cast from a cluster of young, massive stars, NASA reports.

The structures exist in a discrete region of the Eagle Nebula, or M16, 6500 light years from Earth. (A light year is approximately 10 trillion kilometres.)

Infrared view ... in this second new image, the pillars can be seen as silhouettes against a background of myriad stars. Picture: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team

The new, sharper images have been taken to mark the telescope’s 25th anniversary in April. This time, the pillars have been photographed in near-infrared light, as well as visible light. The infrared provides a view of the pillars as silhouettes against a background of a multitude of stars, Astronomy Now reports.

The clarity is achieved because the infrared light penetrates much of the gas and dust, except for the densest regions of the pillars.

The original photo ... a detail of the awe-inspiring 1995 image of the Pillars of Creation, which are 6500 light years from Earth. Picture: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team

Although the original image was dubbed the Pillars of Creation, the new image suggests they are, in fact, in the process of breaking down. “I’m impressed by how transitory these structures are,” says Paul Scowen of Arizona State University in Tempe. “The ghostly bluish haze around the dense edges of the pillars is material getting heated up and evaporating away into space. We have caught these pillars at a very unique and short-lived moment in their evolution.”

The Hubble telescope also thrilled spacegazers with its largest image ever assembled - a sweeping view of a portion of the Andromeda galaxy, our “galactic next-door neighbour”. The image features over 100 million stars, more than two million light years away and in a panorama stretching 61,000 light years.

Near neighbour ... a detail of the sweeping panoramic shot of part of the Andromeda galaxy. Picture: NASA, ESA, J. Dalcanton, B.F. Williams, and L.C. Johnson