Hubble revisits 'Pillars of Creation' image with spectacular high-def view 20 years on

The Hubble space telescope has revisited one of its most iconic pictures - the Eagle Nebula’s ‘Pillars of Creation’ taken 20 years ago.

The original 1995 photo showed previously unseen details of the pillars of cold gas, bathed in ultraviolet light from stars in a region of the Eagle Nebula, 6,500 light years away.

Now as part of its upcoming 25th anniversary in April, the Hubble Space Telescope has revisited the three pillars in a spectacular, sharper and wider new image.

The updated image shows the rust-coloured base of the iconic pillars for the first time.

The dust and gas in the pillars is seared by the intense radiation from young stars and eroded by strong winds from massive nearby stars.

With these new images comes better contrast and a clearer view for astronomers to study how the structure of the pillars is changing over time.

Paul Scowen of Arizona State University, who was involved in the original 1995 photo, said: ‘We have caught these pillars at a very unique and short-lived moment in their evolution.’

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The Hubble image is so popular that it has appeared in movies and television shows, on T-shirts and pillows, and even on a postage stamp.

Scowen added: ‘I’m impressed by how transitory these structures are. They are actively being ablated away before our very eyes.

‘The ghostly bluish haze around the dense edges of the pillars is material getting heated up and evaporating away into space.’