These are the Pillars of Creation, they are massive hydrogen and dust clouds, located in the greater Eagle Nebula. Aptly named the Pillars of Creation, their collection of hydrogen and dust provide the essential components for star and solar system formation. In these pillars, scientists have detected areas of incredibly dense gases called Evaporating Gaseous Globules. The presence, of these EGG’s, provides significance evidence that inside these immense gas and dust clouds stars are forming. The entire nebula is believed 5.5 million years old, but scientists speculate that it may have been recently disturbed by a supernova. Because the Pillars of Creation are 6500 light years away, the light we see that they emit is approximately 6500 years old. Therefor anything termed “relatively recent” can be no younger than 6500 years old.
Using FITS Liberator software, that I downloaded for free from the internet, I transferred three different pictures of the Pillars of Creation onto my desktop. Each of these pictures represented a different wavelength of light. One was blue, one was red and the last was even redder. I uploaded them onto Adobe Photoshop, which I also downloaded for a free thirty day trial, and superimposed all three layers onto one background. Thus creating a comprehensive photograph of the Pillars of Creation. But it was still black and white. To give the photograph the brilliance it has now, I adjusted the color, hue and saturation of each layer separately, until I generated an image that resembled the “official” image of the Pillars of Creation.
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Nebula#Characteristics
