Quarter Century of Looking Long

The Hubble Space Telescope began its work 25 years ago in 1990. Earlier this week, Astronomy Picture of the Day published an enhanced version of one of its most famous pictures, "The Pillars of Creation:"

On the one hand, the name is symbolic, reflecting the immense size of these columns of gas about 6,500 light-years from Earth. On the other hand, it's literal since the gas is the site of significant star formation.

On the gripping hand, though, it's just darn cool.