The Pillars of Creation: Iconic Hubble photograph of the Eagle Nebula

NASA. LARGE FORMAT. In 1995, the HUBBLE telescope produced one of its most famous images: "The Pillars of Creation", depicting a star nursery. The image toured the world and was reproduced in millions of copies on all types of press and decorative media. It is one of the most iconic images of Deep Space, and continues to inspire people on all 5 continents. The star-forming pillars are located in the Eagle Nebula, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope's WFPC2 camera. The image is composed of 32 different images from four separate cameras on this instrument. The photograph was taken with the light emitted by different elements of the cloud, and appears as a different color in the composite image: green for hydrogen, red for single-ionized sulfur and blue for double-ionized oxygen atoms. The missing part at top right is due to the fact that one of the four cameras has a magnified view of its portion, enabling astronomers to see finer details. The images from this camera have been reduced in size to match those from the other three cameras. 1995.

Chromogenic print. References on front. Label legend on back. 40.6 x 40.6 with margins.