Astronomy Picture of the Day

  Dust Pillar of the Carina Nebula Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI) Explanation: Inside the head of this interstellar monster is a star that is slowly destroying it. The monster, on the right, is actually an inanimate pillar of gas and dust that measures over a light year in length. The star, not itself visible through the opaque dust, is bursting out partly by ejecting energetic beams of particles. Similar epic ... Full Story