Pillars of Creation

This Hubble Space Telescope image shows the "Pillars of Creation" -- towers of gas and dust that are giving birth to thousands of new stars in M16, the Eagle Nebula. Many of the newly forming stars are embedded in dense knots of material, which form glowing red spots in the towers. The pillars are being eroded by winds and radiation from powerful young stars. That process is exposing some of the knots where stars are being born, at the tips of "fingers" along the edges of the pillars. [NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team]