Aug 24, 2010 10:18 PM

Hubble's View of 'Mystic Mountain'

This is one of my favorite images ever captured by Hubble: Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI) Hubble’s 20th anniversary image shows a mountain of dust and gas rising in the Carina Nebula. The top of a three-light-year tall pillar of cool hydrogen is being worn away by […]

This is one of my favorite images ever captured by Hubble:

Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI)

Hubble's 20th anniversary image shows a mountain of dust and gas rising in the Carina Nebula. The top of a three-light-year tall pillar of cool hydrogen is being worn away by the radiation of nearby stars, while stars within the pillar unleash jets of gas that stream from the peaks.

Sheril Kirshenbaum is a research scientist at UT Austin's Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy. She is author of The Science of Kissing and Unscientific America. ... Read More

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