The pillars of the Eagle Nebula made famous by the images taken by the Hubble telescope in 1995 have now been discovered to be toppled by a blast theorized to have happened 6,000 years ago.
Pillars of Creation Toppled By Stellar Blast:
A new picture of the Eagle Nebula shot by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, presented here at the 209th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, show the intact pillars next to a giant cloud of glowing dust scorched by the heat of a massive stellar explosion know as a supernova.
"The pillars have already been destroyed by the shockwave," said study leader Nicolas Flagey of the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale in France.
Astronomers think the supernova's shock wave knocked the pillars down about 6,000 years ago. But because the Eagle Nebula is located some 7,000 light years away, the majestic pillars will appear intact to observers on Earth for another 1,000 years or so.
To get a little piece of ancient history for yourself visit our NASA gallery of images.
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