M16: Stars Upon Pillars

How do stars form? This stunning picture taken recently by the Hubble Space Telescope gives us a first hand glimpse. Here evaporating gaseous globules (EGGs) are captured emerging from pillars of molecular hydrogen and dust in the Eagle Nebula ( M16 ). These pillars, dubbed “elephant trunks,” are light years in length and are so dense that interior gas gravitationally contracts to form stars . At each pillars' end, the intense radiation of bright young stars causes low density gas to boil away, leaving stellar nurseries of dense EGGs exposed.