The
Pillars of Creation, a series of
elephant trunks of
interstellar gas and
dust in the
Eagle Nebula, are the subject of a famous
Hubble Space Telescope photograph taken in 1995. They are so named because the depicted gas and dust, while being eroded by the light from nearby stars, are in the process of creating new stars. Shown here is a 2014 rephotograph, which was unveiled in 2015 as part of the telescope's 25th anniversary celebrations.
Photograph: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team