Space picture of the day for April 18, 2025
The Hubble Space Telescope has re-imaged the Eagle Nebula, 20 years after it did so to mark 15 years of service. This time, astronomers have used new processing techniques to draw out additional details in celebration of the telescope's upcoming 35th anniversary.
A cosmic cloud of cold hydrogen gas, this towering pillar is part of the Eagle Nebula. It is here where new stars are born among the collapsing clouds.
"Hot, energetic and formed in great numbers, the stars unleash an onslaught of ultraviolet light and stellar winds that sculpt the gas clouds around them. This produces fantastical shapes like the narrow pillar with blossoming head that we see here," reads a caption for the image prepared by the Hubble Space Telescope team.
The thick and opaque material in the pillar is outlined by the glow of more distant gas behind it. The blue colors in the background are from ionized oxygen; the red lower down is glowing hydrogen. Orange indicates starlight peeking through the dust: bluer wavelengths are blocked by dust, leaving only the redder light to shine through.
This 9.5-light-year-tall (or about 90 trillion kilometers) pillar is just a small section of the Eagle Nebula, also known as Messier 16. This tower of gas and dust is located near the iconic "Pillars of Creation" revealed by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 and 2015.
The Eagle Nebula is one of many nebulae in the Milky Way, located about 5,700 light-years from Earth.
This image is part of a series of observations being made to mark 35 years of observations for the Hubble Space Telescope. Deployed into orbit by the space shuttle Discovery in April 1990, the orbiting observatory became famous for its ability to be repaired and upgraded by astronauts, enabling stunning views of our universe like this one.
You and see and read more about another Hubble Space Telescope 35th anniversary image, this one of the Sombrero Galaxy. You can also read more about the Eagle Nebula and what the same area looks like in the infrared.
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Location Electra Alcyone Atlas Maia Los Angeles —— 2:21 a.m. —— —— Seattle 2:03 am. 2:39 a.m. 3:16 a.m. —— Tucson —— 2:18 a.m. —— 2:07 a.m. Denver 2:35 a.m. 3:27 a.m. —— —— Helena 2:52 a.m. 3:36 a.m. 4:19 a.m. —— Monterrey 2:13 a.m. 3:28 a.m. —— 2:44 a.m. Austin 3:17 a.m. 4:26 a.m. —— 3:51 a.m. Kansas City 3:30 a.m. 4:31 a.m. —— 4:10 a.m. Winnipeg 3:50 a.m. 4:43 a.m. —— —- N. Orleans 3:16 a.m. —— —— 3:48 a.m. Chicago 3:33 a.m. 4:41 a.m. —— 4:12 a.m. Atlanta 4:21 a.m. —— —— 4:54 a.m. Miami 4:15 a.m. —— —— 4:42 a.m. Washington 4:30 a.m. —— —— 5:05 a.m. New York 4:35 a.m. —— —— —— Boston 4:39 a.m. —— —— —— Montreal 4:42 a.m. —— —— —— Location Electra Alcyone Atlas Maia Los Angeles 2:15 a.m. 3:10 a.m. —— —— Seattle 2:22 a.m. 3:31 a.m. 4:01 a.m. —— Tucson 2:13 a.m. 3:04 a.m. —— 2:27 a.m. Denver 3:21 a.m. 4:19 a.m. —— —— Helena 3:26 a.m. 4:31 a.m. 4:56 a.m. —— Monterrey 3:05 a.m. 3:35 a.m. —— 3:33 a.m. Austin 4:11 a.m. 4:51 a.m. —— 4:38 a.m. Kansas City 4:24 a.m. 5:16 a.m. —— 4:46 a.m. Winnipeg 4:37 a.m. —— —— —— N. Orleans 4:11 a.m. —— —— 4:43 a.m. Chicago 4:31 a.m. —— —— 4:57 a.m. Atlanta 5:18 a.m. —— —— 5:52 a.m. Miami 5:03 a.m. —— —— 5:44 a.m. Washington —- —— —— —— New York —— —— —— —— Boston —— —— —— —— Montreal —— —— —— —— Specific times and zones of visibility Courtesy of IOTA, detailed prediction pages are available for each of the four brightest stars — Alcyone, Atlas, Electra, and Maia. These include Universal Time (UT) disappearance and reappearance data, as well as Mercator maps showing where each occultation will be visible. For example, from St. Louis, Missouri (in Central Daylight Time, UTC–5), Maia will disappear at 4:06 a.m. CDT and reappear at 4:51 a.m. CDT. At the moment of reappearance, the sun will be about 11 degrees below the horizon, meaning Maia should reappear in a twilight sky. TOP TELESCOPE PICK Want to see the moon and Pleiades together? The Celestron NexStar 8SE is ideal for beginners wanting quality, reliable and quick views of celestial objects. For a more in-depth look at our Celestron NexStar 8SE review. In addition to the timetable, a world map (Mercator projection) is provided, showing the region where the occultation will be visible. The boundaries are in different colors. The Cyan boundaries show the curves of the occultation disappearance or reappearance at moonrise or moonset. A continuous white line marks the nighttime northern and southern limits of the occultation. A continuous blue line denotes the occultation limits occurring during twilight, while a dotted red line depicts the occultation limits occurring in daylight. For Alcyone, the occultation takes place over much of the western U.S. For Atlas, visibility occurs over the northwest U.S., western Canada and Alaska. For Electra, visibility will be over much of the U.S. and Canada, while the occultation of Maia will be visible primarily over the central and southern U.S. and Mexico. Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Sky and Telescope and other publications.
