NASA released a high-definition version of the famous Pillars of Creation to mark the Hubble Space Telescopes upcoming 25th anniversary.Photo: Getty Images

The Hubble Telescope kick-started its 25th year in orbit Monday by revisiting one of its most popular images ever captured the Pillars of Creation.

The awe-inspiring towers of interstellar gas and dust, which were initially photographed in 1995, were photographed again nearly 20 years later for a special anniversary picture that will be unveiled this week at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle, NASA reports.

Snapped 6,500 light-years away in area M16 of the Eagle Nebula, the images depict a mesmerizing deep space spectacle of three giant columns of cold gas, bathed in the scorching ultraviolet light from a cluster of young, massive stars.

Portrayed in visible light, the new pictures provide enhanced details and better contrast for astronomers studying how the structure changes over time.

We have caught these pillars at a very unique and short-lived moment in their evolution, said Arizona State Universitys Paul Scowen, a professor also helped capture the 1995 original. The ghostly bluish haze around the dense edges of the pillars is material getting heated up and evaporating away into space.

The multi-colored glow of gas clouds and wispy tendrils of dark cosmic dust that are seen intertwining with the rust-colored towers in both images depict an interstellar tango unlike anything seen before, Scowen said.

There is the only one thing that can light up a neighborhood like this: massive stars kicking out enough horsepower in ultraviolet light to ionize the gas clouds and make them glow, he explained. Nebulous star-forming regions like M16 are the interstellar neon signs that say, We just made a bunch of massive stars here.

When scientists first stumbled upon the Pillars of Creation, it was the first time anyone had directly seen observational evidence of the erosionary process, not just radiation but the mechanical stripping away of the gas, according to NASA.

But despite its name, the 2014 images now suggest the structure should instead be referred to as the Pillars of Destruction.

The rest is here:

Hubbles Pillars of Creation, as spectacular as ever