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By NASA
ESA/Hubble & NASA, K. Noll This newly reprocessed image released on April 18, 2025, provides a new view of an enormous, 9.5-light-year-tall pillar of cold gas and dust. Despite its size, it’s just one small piece of the greater Eagle Nebula, also called Messier 16.
The Eagle Nebula is one of many nebulae in the Milky Way that are known for their sculpted, dusty clouds. Nebulae take on these fantastic shapes when exposed to powerful radiation and winds from infant stars. Regions with denser gas are more able to withstand the onslaught of radiation and stellar winds from young stars, and these dense areas remain as dusty sculptures like the starry pillar shown here.
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Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, K. Noll
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By NASA
Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts e-Books Online Activities Lithographs Fact Sheets Posters Hubble on the NASA App Glossary More 35th Anniversary Online Activities 3 Min Read Hubble Spies Cosmic Pillar in Eagle Nebula
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a small portion of the Eagle Nebula (Messier 16). Credits:
ESA/Hubble & NASA, K. Noll As part of ESA/Hubble’s 35th anniversary celebrations, the European Space Agency (ESA) is sharing a new image series revisiting stunning, previously released Hubble targets with the addition of the latest Hubble data and new processing techniques.
New images of NGC 346 and the Sombrero Galaxy have already been published. Now, ESA/Hubble is revisiting the Eagle Nebula (originally published in 2005 as part of Hubble’s 15th anniversary celebrations) with new image processing techniques.
Unfurling along the length of the image is a pillar of cold gas and dust that is 9.5 light-years tall. As enormous as this dusty pillar is, it’s just one small piece of the greater Eagle Nebula, also called Messier 16. The name Messier 16 comes from the French astronomer Charles Messier, a comet hunter who compiled a catalog of deep-sky objects that could be mistaken for comets.
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a towering structure of billowing gas in the Eagle Nebula (Messier 16). The pillar rises 9.5 light-years tall and is 7,000 light-years away from Earth. ESA/Hubble & NASA, K. Noll The name Eagle Nebula was inspired by the nebula’s appearance. The edge of this shining nebula is shaped by dark clouds like this one, giving it the appearance of an eagle spreading its wings.
Not too far from the region pictured here are the famous Pillars of Creation, which Hubble photographed multiple times, with images released in 1995 and 2015.
The heart of the nebula, which is located beyond the edge of this image, is home to a cluster of young stars. These stars have excavated an immense cavity in the center of the nebula, shaping otherworldly pillars and globules of dusty gas. This particular feature extends like a pointing finger toward the center of the nebula and the rich young star cluster embedded there.
The Eagle Nebula is one of many nebulae in the Milky Way that are known for their sculpted, dusty clouds. Nebulae take on these fantastic shapes when exposed to powerful radiation and winds from infant stars. Regions with denser gas are more able to withstand the onslaught of radiation and stellar winds from young stars, and these dense areas remain as dusty sculptures like the starry pillar shown here.
This towering structure of billowing gas and dark, obscuring dust might only be a small portion of the Eagle Nebula, but it is no less majestic in appearance for it. 9.5 light-years tall and 7000 light-years distant from Earth, this dusty sculpture is refreshed with the use of new processing techniques. The new Hubble image is part of ESA/Hubble’s 35th anniversary celebrations. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, K. Noll, N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble); Music: Stellardrone – Ascent The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Explore Hubble Eagle Nebula Images and Science
Eagle Nebula Pillar
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Hubble’s Messier Catalog: Messier 16 (Eagle Nebula)
Messier 16, better known as the Eagle Nebula, has provided Hubble with some of its most iconic images.
Embryonic Stars Emerge from Interstellar “Eggs”
Eerie, dramatic Hubble pictures show newborn stars emerging from “eggs” – not the barnyard variety – but rather dense, compact pockets of interstellar gas called evaporating gaseous globules (EGGs).
The Pillars of Creation: A 3D Multiwavelength Exploration
This scientific visualization explores the iconic Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula (Messier 16 or M16) using data from NASA’s Hubble and Webb space telescopes.
Hubble Goes High Def to Revisit the Iconic ‘Pillars of Creation’
Explore hands-on activities, interactive, lesson plans, educator guides, and other downloadable content about this topic.
Location of Hubble images in the Eagle Nebula
This wide-field image of the Eagle Nebula shows the areas Hubble viewed in greater detail with Hubble’s Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) in 1995 and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) in 2005.
The Eagle Has Risen: Stellar Spire in the Eagle Nebula
Released in 2005, this Hubble image of a stellar spire was part of Hubble’s 15th anniversary.
Eagle Nebula (M16) Pillar Detail: Portion of Top
Released in 2005, this Hubble image of a stellar spire was part of Hubble’s 15th anniversary.
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Last Updated Apr 18, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Contact Media Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
Bethany Downer
ESA/Hubble
bethany.downer@esahubble.org
Garching, Germany
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Hubble’s 35th Anniversary celebrations ESA/Hubble’s 35th Anniversary celebrations Release on ESA’s website
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Hubble Space Telescope
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Exploring the Birth of Stars
Seeing ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light helps Hubble uncover the mysteries of star formation.
Reshaping Our Cosmic View: Hubble Science Highlights
Hubble’s 35th Anniversary
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By NASA
6 Min Read NASA’s Chandra Releases New 3D Models of Cosmic Objects
New three-dimensional (3D) models of objects in space have been released by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. These 3D models allow people to explore — and print — examples of stars in the early and end stages of their lives. They also provide scientists with new avenues to investigate scientific questions and find insights about the objects they represent.
These 3D models are based on state-of-the-art theoretical models, computational algorithms, and observations from space-based telescopes like Chandra that give us accurate pictures of these cosmic objects and how they evolve over time.
However, looking at images and animations is not the only way to experience this data. The four new 3D printable models of Cassiopeia A (Cas A), G292.0+1.8 (G292), Cygnus Loop supernova remnants, and the star known as BP Tau let us experience the celestial objects in the form of physical structures that will allow anyone to hold replicas of these stars and their surroundings and examine them from all angles.
Cassiopeia A (Cas A)
Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers uncovered a mysterious feature within the remnant, nicknamed the “Green Monster,” alongside a puzzling network of ejecta filaments forming a web of oxygen-rich material. When combined with X-rays from Chandra, the data helped astronomers shed light on the origin of the Green Monster and revealed new insights into the explosion that created Cas A about 340 years ago, from Earth’s perspective.
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3D Model of Cassiopeia A "Green Monster" INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo/Salvatore Orlando To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
3D Model of Cassiopeia AINAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo/Salvatore Orlando BP Tau
X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: PanSTARRS; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk This 3D model shows a star less than 10 million years old that is surrounded by a disk of material. This class of objects is known as T Tauri stars, named after a young star in the Taurus star-forming region. The model describes the effects of multiple flares, or outbursts that are detected in X-rays by Chandra from one T Tauri star known as BP Tau. These flares interact with the disk of material and lead to the formation of an extended outer atmosphere composed by hot loops, connecting the disk to the developing star.
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3D Model of BP TauINAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo/Salvatore Orlando Cygnus Loop
X-ray: NASA/SAO/CXC; Optical: John Stone (Astrobin); Image Processing: NASA/SAO/CXC/L. Frattre, N. Wolk The Cygnus Loop (also known as the Veil Nebula) is a supernova remnant, the remains of the explosive death of a massive star. This 3D model is the result of a simulation describing the interaction of a blast wave from the explosion with an isolated cloud of the interstellar medium (that is, dust and gas in between the stars). Chandra sees the blast wave and other material that has been heated to millions of degrees. The Cygnus Loop is a highly extended, but faint, structure on the sky: At three degrees across, it has the diameter of six full moons.
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3D Model of Cygnus LoopINAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo/Salvatore Orlando G292.0+1.8
X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical:NSF/NASA/DSS; Image Processing This is a rare type of supernova remnant observed to contain large amounts of oxygen. The X-ray image of G292.0+1.8 from Chandra shows a rapidly expanding, intricately structured field left behind by the shattered star. By creating a 3D model of the system, astronomers have been able to examine the asymmetrical shape of the remnant that can be explained by a “reverse” shock wave moving back toward the original explosion.
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3D Model of G292.0+1.8INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo/Salvatore Orlando The 3D models here are the subject of several scholarly papers by Salvatore Orlando of INAF in Palermo, Italy, and colleagues published in The Astrophysical Journal, Astronomy & Astrophysics, and Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Much of this work is also publicly available work on SketchFab.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.
Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission here:
https://www.nasa.gov/chandra
https://chandra.si.edu
Visual Description
This release features visualizations of three supernova remnants and one star. Each is rendered as a composite image, and as a digital 3-dimensional model, presented in separate short video clips. The composite images are two dimensional and static, but the digital models rotate, showcasing their three-dimensionality.
The first featured supernova is Cassiopeia A. In the X-ray, optical, and infrared composite image, the debris from an exploded star resembles a round purple gas cloud, marbled with streaks of golden light. In the rotating, 3D model, the purple gas cloud is depicted as a flat disk, like a record or CD. Bursting out the front and back of the disk is an orange and white shape similar to a ball of coral, or a head of cauliflower lined with stubby tendrils. Most of the ball, and the majority of the tendrils, appear on one side of the disk. On the opposite side, the shape resembles dollops of thick whipped cream.
Next in the release is a star known as BP Tau. BP Tau is a developing star, less than 10 million years old, and prone to outbursts or flares. These flares interact with a disk of material that surrounds the young star, forming hot loops of extended atmosphere. In the composite image, BP Tau resembles a distant, glowing white dot surrounded by a band of pink light. The rotating, 3D model is far more dynamic and intriguing! Here, the disk of material resembles a large blue puck with round, ringed, concave surfaces. At the heart of the puck is a small, glowing red orb: the developing star. Shooting out of the orb are long, thin, green strands: the flares. Also emerging from the orb are orange and pink petal-shaped blobs: the loops of extended atmosphere. Together, the orb, strands, and petals resemble an exotic flowering orchid.
The third celestial object in this release is the supernova remnant called Cygnus Loop. In the composite image, the remnant resembles a wispy cloud in oranges, blues, purples, and whites, shaped like a backwards letter C. The 3D model examines this cloud of interstellar material interacting with the superheated, supernova blast wave. In the 3D model, the Cygnus Loop resembles a bowl with a thick base, and a wedge cut from the side like a slice of pie. The sides of the bowl are rendered in swirled blues and greens. However, inside the thick base, revealed by the wedge-shaped cut, are streaks of red and orange. Surrounding the shape are roughly parallel thin red strands, which extend beyond the top and bottom of the digital model.
The final supernova featured in this release is G292.0+1.8. The composite image depicts the remnant as a bright and intricate ball of red, blue, and white X-ray gas and debris set against a backdrop of gleaming stars. In the 3D model, the remnant is rendered in translucent icy blue and shades of orange. Here, the rotating shape is revealed to be somewhat like a bulbous arrowhead, or perhaps an iceberg on its side.
News Media Contact
Megan Watzke
Chandra X-ray Center
Cambridge, Mass.
617-496-7998
mwatzke@cfa.harvard.edu
Lane Figueroa
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
256-544-0034
lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Apr 16, 2025 Related Terms
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4 min read Hubble Provides New View of Galactic Favorite
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
The radio antennas of NASA’s Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex are lo-cated near the Australian capital. It’s one of three Deep Space Network facilities around the world that keep the agency in contact with dozens of space missions Located at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve near the Australian capital city, the Canberra complex joined the Deep Space Network on March 19, 1965, with one 85-foot-wide (26-meter-wide) radio antenna. The dish, called Deep Space Station 42, was decommis-sioned in 2000. This photograph shows the facility in 1965.NASA Canberra joined the global network in 1965 and operates four radio antennas. Now, preparations have begun on its fifth as NASA works to increase the network’s capacity.
NASA’s Deep Space Network facility in Canberra, Australia celebrated its 60th anniversary on March 19 while also breaking ground on a new radio antenna. The pair of achievements are major milestones for the network, which communicates with spacecraft all over the solar system using giant dish antennas located at three complexes around the globe.
Canberra’s newest addition, Deep Space Station 33, will be a 112-foot-wide (34-meter-wide) multifrequency beam-waveguide antenna. Buried mostly below ground, a massive concrete pedestal will house cutting-edge electronics and receivers in a climate-controlled room and provide a sturdy base for the reflector dish, which will rotate during operations on a steel platform called an alidade.
Suzanne Dodd, the director for the Interplanetary Network Directorate at JPL, addresses an audience at the Deep Space Network’s Canberra complex on March 19, 2025. That day marked 60 years since the Australian facility joined the network.NASA “As we look back on 60 years of incredible accomplishments at Canberra, the groundbreaking of a new antenna is a symbol for the next 60 years of scientific discovery,” said Kevin Coggins, deputy associate administrator of NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Building cutting-edge antennas is also a symbol of how the Deep Space Network embraces new technologies to enable the exploration of a growing fleet of space missions.”
When it goes online in 2029, the new Canberra dish will be the last of six parabolic dishes constructed under NASA’s Deep Space Network Aperture Enhancement Program, which is helping to support current and future spacecraft and the increased volume of data they provide. The network’s Madrid facility christened a new dish in 2022, and the Goldstone, California, facility is putting the finishing touches on a new antenna.
Canberra’s Role
The Deep Space Network was officially founded on Dec. 24, 1963, when NASA’s early ground stations, including Goldstone, were connected to the new network control center at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Called the Space Flight Operations Facility, that building remains the center through which data from the three global complexes flows.
The Madrid facility joined in 1964, and Canberra went online in 1965, going on to help support hundreds of missions, including the Apollo Moon landings.
Three eye-catching posters featuring the larger 230-foot (70-meter) antennas located at the three Deep Space Network complexes around the world.NASA/JPL-Caltech “Canberra has played a crucial part in tracking, communicating, and collecting data from some of the most momentous missions in space history,” said Kevin Ferguson, director of the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex. “As the network continues to advance and grow, Canberra will continue to play a key role in supporting humanity’s exploration of the cosmos.”
By being spaced equidistant from one another around the globe, the complexes can provide continual coverage of spacecraft, no matter where they are in the solar system as Earth rotates. There is an exception, however: Due to Canberra’s location in the Southern Hemisphere, it is the only one that can send commands to, and receive data from, Voyager 2 as it heads south almost 13 billion miles (21 billion kilometers) through interstellar space. More than 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) away, Voyager 1 sends its data down to the Madrid and Goldstone complexes, but it, too, can only receive commands via Canberra.
New Technologies
In addition to constructing more antennas like Canberra’s Deep Space Station 33, NASA is looking to the future by also experimenting with laser, or optical, communications to enable significantly more data to flow to and from Earth. The Deep Space Network currently relies on radio frequencies to communicate, but laser operates at a higher frequency, allowing more data to be transmitted.
As part of that effort, NASA is flying the laser-based Deep Space Optical Communications experiment with the agency’s Psyche mission. Since the October 2023 launch, it has demonstrated high data rates over record-breaking distances and downlinked ultra-high definition streaming video from deep space.
“These new technologies have the potential to boost the science and exploration returns of missions traveling throughout the solar system,” said Amy Smith, deputy project manager for the Deep Space Networkat JPL, which manages the network. “Laser and radio communications could even be combined to build hybrid antennas, or dishes that can communicate using both radio and optical frequencies at the same time. That could be a game changer for NASA.”
For more information about the Deep Space Network, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/communicating-with-missions/dsn/
NASA’s New Deep Space Network Antenna Has Its Crowning Moment NASA’s New Experimental Antenna Tracks Deep Space Laser VIDEO: How Do We Know Where Faraway Spacecraft Are? News Media Contact
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
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By NASA
From left to right, NASA Marshall engineers Carlos Diaz and John Luke Bili, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory mechanical engineer contractor Eloise Stump, and Marshall engineers Tomasz Liz, David Banks, and Elise Doan observe StarBurst in the cleanroom environment before it’s unboxed from its shipping container. The cleanroom environment at Marshall is designed to minimize contamination and protect the observatory’s sensitive instruments. Image Credit: NASA /Daniel Kocevski StarBurst, a wide-field gamma ray observatory, arrived at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, March 4 for environmental testing and final instrument integration. The instrument is designed to detect the initial emission of short gamma-ray bursts, a key electromagnetic indicator of neutron star mergers.
“Gamma-ray bursts are among the most powerful explosions in the universe, and they serve as cosmic beacons that help us understand extreme physics, including black hole formation and the behavior of matter under extreme conditions,” said Dr. Daniel Kocevski, principal investigator of the StarBurst mission at NASA Marshall.
According to Kocevski, neutron star mergers are particularly exciting because they produce gamma-ray bursts and gravitational waves, meaning scientists can study these events using two different signals – light and ripples in space time.
Starburst Principal Investigator Dr. Daniel Kocevski, left, and Integration and Test Engineer Elise Doan, right, pose with the StarBurst instrument after it was unboxed in the cleanroom environment at NASA Marshall. The Naval Research Lab transferred the instrument to NASA in early March.Image Credit: NASA/Davy Haynes The merging of neutron stars forges heavy elements such as gold and platinum, revealing the origins of some of Earth’s building blocks.
“By studying these gamma-ray bursts and the neutron star mergers that produce them, we gain insights into fundamental physics, the origins of elements, and even the expansion of the universe,” Kocevski said. “Neutron star mergers and gamma-ray bursts are nature’s laboratories for testing our understanding of the cosmos.”
StarBurst will undergo flight vibration and thermal vacuum testing at Marshall in the Sunspot Thermal Vacuum Testing Facility. These tests ensure it can survive the rigors of launch and harsh environment of space.
Final instrument integration will happen in the Stray Light Facility, which is a specialized environment to help identify and reduce unwanted light in certain areas of the optical systems.
The StarBurst Multimessenger Pioneer is a wide-field gamma-ray observatory designed to detect the initial emission of short gamma-ray bursts, important electromagnetic indicators of neutron star mergers. With an effective area over five times that of the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor and complete visibility of the unobscured sky, StarBurst will conduct sensitive observations. NASA/Daniel Kocevski StarBurst is a collaborative effort led by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, with partnerships with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, the University of Alabama Huntsville, the Universities Space Research Association, and the UTIAS Space Flight Laboratory. StarBurst was selected for development as part of the NASA Astrophysics Pioneers program, which supports lower-cost, smaller hardware missions to conduct compelling astrophysics science.
To learn more about StarBurst visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/starburst/
Media Contact:
Lane Figueroa
Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, Alabama
256.544.0034
lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov
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