How the 'Pillars of Creation' … were created

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How the 'Pillars of Creation' … were created

The 'Pillars of Creation', an image made with the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, is one of the most famous astronomical views. It shows how 'elephant trunks' of cooler interstellar gas are eroded by the intense radiation and winds from nearby massive stars.

Now Scott Balfour, an astronomer at Cardiff University, has run a new simulation where similar structures appear with a remarkably close appearance to their real life counterparts. He also suggests that the stars that make these structures are of little help in forming new siblings. On Thursday 26 June Scott will present his results in a talk at the National Astronomy Meeting in Portsmouth.

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