People are saying that The Pillars Of Creation have been destroyed, and will take 400-500 Million light years to reach us. Can someone explain how do we know it when the light hasn’t reached us?
In: 1444
“Lightyear” is a unit of distance not time, and the Pillars of Creation are only around 7,000 lightyears from Earth.
The reason we think they may no longest exist is that we have observed what is potentially a supernova shockwave in the Pillars which, as the pillars are essentially giant clouds of gas and dust, would have literally “blown them away” within 1,000-2,000 years. Since the light from the Pillars takes around 7,000 years to reach us we will be able to observe them for around 5,000-6,000 more years. But we’re not sure if it’s a supernova, and if it isn’t then the Pillars should continue to exist for a much longer time.
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