Hubble is only able to observe a fraction of the infrared spectrum from wavelengths ranging from 0.8 to 2.5 microns. Discovered by the team of Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen in 1995 using the Hubble Space Telescope, we've truly only observed a small portion of Pillars of Creation gas clouds roughly 6,500 lightyears from Earth.Ī part of the issue was the very specific energy spectrums and wavelengths at which Hubble's near-infrared spectrum sensors operate. Each atom of hydrogen, oxygen, stellar dust, and other gasses and molecules exudes enough of a gravitational force on the other to mold portions of the gargantuan interstellar clouds into the next generation of proto-stars. Inside this primordial soup, masses of pre-stellar material pull themselves together through gravity. Its diverse wealth of elements has coagulated, possibly over billions of years, into distinct pillar-like masses referred to as Elephant trunks.

This especially consequential collection of gas, dust, and proverbial soup of interesting elements and molecules resides in the Eagle Nebula, inside the larger constellation Serpens.

NASA's newest telescope just made this segment of the cosmos even more awe-inspiring.

Eagle nebula 4k