Pillars of Creation

The Pillars of Creation, 60 minutes of integration in SHO with Planewave CDK24 610/3962 f 6/5 telescope, QHY 600M Pro camera, are 12 shots of which in Ha 3x300 seconds, in OIII 5x300 seconds and in SII 4x300 seconds, processing with Pixinsight and Photoshop. All data and shots were captured with Telescope Live. The Pillars are three very dense structures of gas and dust located in the southeastern edge of the Eagle Nebula; They were created by the action of the stellar wind of the giant stars of the central open cluster. Their cataloguing follows the ascending Roman numerals, so the individual structures are called Column I, Column II, and Column III, proceeding from northeast to southwest. The morphology and ionized structure is well known thanks to the advent of space telescopes: the ionizing radiation coming from the stars of the cluster compresses the gases of the molecular clouds increasing their pressure at the surface, while a photoevaporating flow of ionized material is generated on the opposite side of the source of the stellar wind; This is the phenomenon responsible for the "pillar" structure of clouds.

The lower-density matter is the first to be swept away, while the denser core, further compressed due to the shock wave front, survives, resisting the force. However, near-infrared images show that the first two columns have a relatively sparse structure, concentrated by much denser cores that defend it from the disruptive action of the wind. To the southeast of the Pillars is another molecular nebula structure, cataloged as Column IV, located near a known Herbig-Haro object, HH 216.

The total mass of the dense areas of the three Pillars is estimated at 200 M☉. The ionizing stars in the columns are located 2 parsecs away from them.