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Explanation: Dust pillars are like interstellar mountains. They survive because they are more dense than their surroundings, but they are slowly being eroded away by a hostile environment. Visible in the featured picture by the Hubble Space Telescope is the end of a huge gas and dust pillar in the Trifid Nebula (M20), punctuated by a smaller pillar pointing up and an unusual jet pointing to the upper left. Many of the bright dots are newly formed stars. A star near the small pillar's end is slowly being stripped of its accreting gas by radiation from a tremendously brighter star situated off the top of the image. The jet extends nearly a light-year and would not be visible without external illumination. As gas and dust evaporate from the pillars, the hidden stellar source of this jet will likely be uncovered, possibly over the next 20,000 years.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: jet
Publications with words: jet
See also:
- APOD: 2025 September 3 Á Cir X1: Jets in the Africa Nebula
- APOD: 2025 May 9 Á IXPE Explores a Black Hole Jet
- APOD: 2025 April 9 Á HH 49: Interstellar Jet from Webb
- APOD: 2024 October 1 Á Porphyrion: The Longest Known Black Hole Jets
- The Galaxy, the Jet, and a Famous Black Hole
- APOD: 2024 May 7 Á Black Hole Accreting with Jet
- APOD: 2023 September 19 Á HH 211: Jets from a Forming Star