New HighRes Hubble Image, The Pillars of Creation

The most famous Hubble photograph, “The Pillars of Creation,” has just been updated in high resolution as the Hubble is reaching the end of its working life.

http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/p1501ay.jpg

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2014 Image on right, 1995 image on left

Located 6,500 light years distant (the near neighborhood in galactic terms) the Eagle Nebula is in the process of creating new stars from inter stellar gas clouds of hydrogen.

After a near-sighted start, 20 years ago, The Hubble Telescope, which has been upgraded by a shuttle mission, produced some spectacular images but none have drawn the attention of this stellar nursery known as “The Pillars of Creation.”

With the working life of the telescope nearing an end NASA and the European Space Agency took another look at this iconic image with a much more spectacular image produced in late 2014 and recently released on Hubble’s 25th anniversary.

The new images was produced by the Wide Field Camera 3, which was installed in the 2009 STS-129 Space Shuttle Hubble upgrade Mission 4.